King of Hearts
by Starrrtt
Summary: The Apocalypse battle is over. The X-men kept going with their lives. They make new enemies, but also new allies. Some become friends, gaining their trust and a place in the group. But there are always the exceptions, where a X-man unconsciously starts a peculiar friendship with the most untrusted enemy, and vice-versa. And without anyone realizing, a new X-man slowly is rising.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey! So, I'm quite happy 'bout doing a Romy fanfic. And plz ignore my English mistakes, now that it's not my native language!**

**I just hope you like it, and Review PLEASE, iof you're liking it I want to know it, because reviewing an authors work makes him/her feel more confident on keep going it!**

Chapter I

Rogue looked up at her breakfast plate and felt her stomach getting nasty: two toasts with butter and a fried egg made by Scott, plus a fresh juice of orange. She knew she was the only one feeling like that, thanks to Logan's training sections one day before. Rogue was the only one who got caught by an iron-made arm and started to be moved back and forth by it, as if she was a kid's toy and that stupid thing was a child's hand.

She ate the egg only, and took fast sips of orange juice to make the egg go down her stomach before it could even complain. When nobody was looking, the pale skinned girl got up from her chair, took her backpack and ran from the kitchen before anyone noticed.

The corridor was actually empty, thanks to the mass of students from Xavier's institute being on the kitchen before going to school or to college – like Scott and Jean. They both did get a great scholarship from a near college, and decided to stay in the mansion now that it was just some minutes away by car. They thought about the idea of going to live in College, but this idea quickly faded, thanks to the whole mutant-prejudice thing. For Rogue, it was a painful thing, now that every single time she looks at both of them; she sees the two having those I-love-you looks.

She couldn't support it any longer. Of course she couldn't say it to anybody – this would make her be obliged to tell anyone she tells her feelings the reason of such disgust, which was her crush on Scott.

In a long time Rogue really tried to avoid her feelings for him, but her heart still bitted fast when she saw him, or when he talked to her. It wasn't something she could control.

She walked down to the visit room and opened the glass door to get out from the mansion. Before she could even reach the mansion gate, a red car came at her side and Scott called her from the driver's seat.

"Hey, Rogue. Wanna a ride for school?" he asked with a sweet smile. He was a kind boy with every girl, so she didn't really care about that smile.

Rogue looked up at him and then to the passenger's seat, Jean was there. Of course she was, she and Scott go to the same college.

Just like Scott, Jean had a big smile on her face, as if feeding Scott's invitation. Rogue could feel a lot of guilty fills her chest. She never really liked Jean, thanks to her way of acting, always so "perfect", but she knew Jean never had anything against her, besides the fact of Rogue's visible crush for Scott. Jean always tried to talk with her during the school breaks or in the mansion, but Rogue never felt too friendly around her.

"Are you sure?" Rogue asked, feeling insecure if accepting the offer or not.

"Sure, the school isn't that far from our college," Jean answered.

"Okay," Rogue said taking a place at the back seat, she tried to avoid Jean's and Scott's constant looks at each other.

The drive was very fast, and Jean and Scott had only a few minutes of talk with her. Rogue answered politely to all of their questions (Are you anxious 'bout your graduating on April? What do you pretend to study on college?) and got out from the car as fast as she could.

She tanked for the ride and entered at her school.

Right in the front of it, people already started to look at her a little scared and with anger. Of course they did, she was a mutant; what else could she expect?

She made her way to her locker and opened it up calmly. Thanks to Scott's ride and the fact that she "ate" her breakfast quickly, she arrived at school earlier than usual, and wanted to use this "free" time to rest in her classroom without hearing Kurt's annoying teleportation noise, or the kids' laughs and their endless non-sense conversations.

She seated at her usual desk near the window and waited for the room to fill up with students.

It was actually a little lonely for her being by herself in the last year with any other mutant student from Xavier's institute. She didn't like the idea of being graduated between normal people, when all of them don't have any good feeling toward her. She didn't either, but she just wanted to be respected.

After the teenagers filled the classroom, the professor arrived, closed the door and gave Good Morning to his students. Everybody knew what his Good Mornings meant: surprise test.

Thanks God Rogue did her homework, or else she would be feeling the same thing half of the class was feeling.

After the surprise test and her other classes, Rogue directed herself to the cafeteria. She took only an apple and a bottle of water. She was sick, but felt like putting something in her stomach, otherwise she would possibly faint of hunger.

"Hey, Rogue!" Amara waved her hand to the gothic girl. She was in a table with Kitty, Kurt, Tabitha, who decided to come to school today, and the younger X-men kids.

Rogue made her way to Amara's table and seated there listening to her friends' conversation.

"So, anyone called you to the spring ball already?" Kitty asked Amara, looking very anxious for the answering.

Amara looked up at Kitty and blushed. Her eyes went back to her tray and she played with her food.

"I will take this as a happy Yes!" Kitty said, lively. "Who was the lucky guy?"

"A boy near my locker," Amara answered still looking at her spaghetti, uncomfortable.

"What's his name, girl, tell us, please?" Tabitha asked, more enthusiastic than Kitty.

Amara played with a lock of her brown hair, "Jim."

"Oh, I know him!" Kitty said waving her small hand. "He's from the football team, isn't he?"

Rogue remembered him: a blond, tall, olive skinned senior boy. He was Duncan's friend, but he was the only one who didn't care about the mutant thing. He actually liked it. Rogue remembered one day when he asked her about a math problem he had. And it didn't look like he felt disturbed by her power, and by the possibility of losing conscience if touching her skin.

"He's a nice guy," Rogue told them taking a sip from her juice.

All of the people from the table looked at her.

"How ya know that?" Kurt asked; his hologram blue eyes widened of surprise.

Rogue shrugged, "He's from mah Math classes, and he didn't seem worried about, well, ya know, the whole mutant thing."

Tabitha put her hand over Amara's shoulders and shook her with happiness. "I knew it! I've always knew ya would chose a great guy for ya! I'm so proud of you, and he is such a hottie. You're so lucky!"

Amara blushed more and more, "Thank you, I guess," she paused for a minute and then said for Kitty. "What about you Kitty? How's the Lance thing doing?"

She smiled, and told Amara "He asked me today."

Unlike Amara; Kitty didn't blush, and looked very happy for her olive skinned friend asking it.

Rogue rolled her eyes, everybody looked happy about the idea of the ball, and some not-senior girls got very happy for being invited for the prom that was going to take place on April. She felt a little lonely, again, for not being invited to anything. Rogue didn't really felt like going to any of those parties, but she wanted to at least be part of the conversation.

Even with the problem of being mutants, many of the mutant girls and boys were still invited by non-mutants to some graduating parties. It was like Rogue had a natural problem of social-interaction. Of course she had, she was a gothic girl. Nobody knew her before they discovered she was a freak. Some people got very interested on her powers, but mostly were afraid of being near her, as if the simple fact of breathing the same air she does would make them fall into some kind of coma.

"And what 'bout ya, Rogue?" Tabitha asked, looking at her.

Rogue woke up from her own thoughts and actually felt surprised at the fact of such a question being directed to her. She really wanted to laugh at Tabitha.

She just gave her a quick sarcastic laugh, "Ah don't think you know mah powers for real, don't you?" and then she rose up from the table, walking away with her tray in hands.

"What's wrong with her?" Tabitha asked; still looking at the point where Rogue have disappeared.

"The whole touching thing," Kitty said, feeling sad for Rogue.

She cared about her, because she knew Rogue is like some kind of caring sister for her. Many times they fought, but Kitty learned how to deal with her and how not to make Rogue angry.

And she knew Rogue didn't want to seat with them at lunch, so she used Tabitha's idiotic question to get away. Kitty knew, though, Rogue got a little hurt about that question. Even if someone tried to call her, Rogue would be very uncomfortable towards her pair. Balls were made for social-interaction, and Rogue has never liked it.

Rahne asked the other girls, "Do you guys think someone would ask Rogue to the ball?"

Roberto looked at her "Really, if Rogue wasn't so disturbed 'bout that problem of touching, I would call her anyway," his confidence completely visible.

Rahne looked at him, unease by his statement, "Really?"

"Of course I would," he shrugged. "One of the guys I used to talk with, before discovering our secret, had said Rogue was pretty. But he didn't try to talk with her because of the way she spoke to people."

"You mean that she actually scared him?" Kurt asked.

"Yeah, kinda," he shrugged once more and then chewed his piece of meat with his mouth open.

Tabitha smiled, "Okay, I got it, Rogue's not the touching type. But I asked Rogue that question just because I totally thought someone had asked her out!"

"Oh," Kitty said, a little upset about the conversation they were having about Rogue. "Did you have someone in mind, besides Roberto's scared friend?" Kitty got curious.

"Actually," Tabitha stared at Kitty firmly, with a maniac smile over her face. "I _did_," she inclined her torso in Kitty's direction.

Kitty widened her eyes, "Who? I mean, almost everybody in school, like, hate us. And the ones that doesn't already have a couple."

Everybody in the table starred at Tabitha; she liked the attention.

She narrowed her blue eyes and widened her smile. "He's not from school. He's actually much older than her, I think."

Rahne, Kitty, Kurt and Roberto got quiet.

"And man, that guy is hot. He's that tall, tanned-skin guy who loves to blow cards in people's asses and has a fucking cool Cajun accent."

Kitty and Kurt widened their eyes even more. "Gambit?" they asked together, surprised.

Tabitha popped her fingers, and her eyes brightened. "Yep, that's him, the metal staff guy!"

"You mean the guy that tried to kill us some months ago?" Kitty asked rising one of her brown eyebrows.

"Uh yeah," Tabitha answered.

"Ve same guy who is part of the Acolytes?" Kurt asked, with his German accent, making the same face Kitty did.

"The _same_ guy who _kidnapped _and _tricked_ Rogue?" Kitty kept asking.

"And ve one who helped Magneto one billion times?" Kurt said.

"Yup and yup," Tabitha answered, proud of herself; not caring about what her two friends said about Rogue's possible pair.

Kurt and Kitty looked at each other, chocked at Tabitha's non-sense.

"He's really cool," Rahne admitted.

Roberto looked at her, not liking what she have just said.

"Are you all, like, crazy?!" Kitty asked, astonished. "He's a thief! He tried to take us away from his sight one billion times!"

"Yeah, but he likes Rogue," Tabitha said.

"How are you so sure of that, Tabitha?" Kurt asked.

She smiled again, "The little times I saw those two together, he looked at her in a very different way he would look at other girls the same age as Rogue's."

The teenagers looked up at her. They tried to think about the idea of a guy like Gambit liking Rogue.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Man I hate these training sessions!" Bobby complained.

The younger X-men got away from the Danger Room nearly crawling over the metal floor.

It was another training day, when Logan finally decided to rise up the younger's level of hardness. They wished they had never complained about the training looking like a for five-year-old children training.

"You guys feel more adult, now?" Scott asked waiting for the teenagers to get away from the Danger Room.

"Just shut up, man!" Bobby said, barely breathing well, his hair full of ice pieces.

Scott and Kurt laughed at the state of the kids. Jamie had one boot missing; Jubilee had her hair all messed up with her own fireworks shoots; Roberto lost one part of his eyebrow thanks to Jubilee's wrong aim; Ray wore a five-or-three holed outfit.

Kurt couldn't resist the idea of making jokes about them.

He and Scott just had stopped laughing the time Logan appeared from the entrance with his arms folded and a sarcastic smile on his face.

"Nice, kid," he told Kurt. "Let's see if you still find it funny after _your_ training session."

Kurt's smile quickly faded from his face. He sighed. "I don't think I will," he muttered to himself, going inside the Danger Room after Logan ordered him and the older X-men to get in.

"But _I_ will," Logan said in response to Kurt's complaining.

He closed the door and began with the explanation.

"This time," he started going in the middle of the salon, his arms still crossed over his chest, "You will learn how to survive in unknown places.

Scott looked up at Rogue, both of them with a big interrogation dot over their heads. The X-men only knew it was going to be horribly difficult.

"What kind of unknown places?" Kurt asked.

"Forests and deserts," Logan said.

"What?" Kitty asked, "But we already know that! Don't you remember that time we went to find Mesmero in Egypt or when we went to the forest with Hank? Why would we need to learn that again?"

"That's because you were _prepared_. What if the X-jet breaks in the middle of a forest, or in a desert? How will you survive?"

Kitty and the others shut their mouths immediately.

They didn't know.

Logan smiled, happy with the idea of being right.

"So let's start," he said.

Kitty, Kurt, Rogue, Scott and Jean got away from the Danger Room worse than the younger X-men did.

"I regret teasing Bobby!" Kurt said, trying to breath.

"So do I," Scott put his hand over Kurt's shoulder, his hair messed as well.

"Logan is getting crazier and crazier!" Kurt said when they were in the elevator in a safe distance from Logan's ears.

They all started to comment about the training sessions, but Rogue.

She got quite all the way to the girl's corridor, and Kitty was the only one who noticed she was quieter than usual.

"Rogue?" she called her friend before she could enter in her bedroom, locking the door.

The pale skinned girl turned her face at Kitty, a little frightened.

"Is there something wrong?" the blue eyed girl asked, worried. "You look quieter than usual. Did something happen?"

Rogue tried not to make a scared expression at Kitty. The truth was that she started to feel those headaches again, but they weren't the normal ones. They were the ones when all of the personalities her skin absorbed tried to take control over her. Right when she was trying to escape from a bear in the Danger Room she felt Mystique's thoughts invade her head, and she almost fainted over the floor.

"It's nothing, Kitty." Rogue said, trying to smile. "Ah'm just feeling too sleepy, horrible day at school, two surprise tests to do, plus studying for the finals."

Kitty didn't feel very convinced, but she got calmer. If anything happen Rogue would talk to someone.

"Okay, then," she said, moving to her own bedroom. "So, see ya in dinner."

Rogue waited for Kitty to enter in her room to shut the door.

"Yeah," she muttered to herself while making her way to the bathroom. "Dinner, Ah can't wait."

Rogue took a twenty minutes hot shower and put her pajamas on, not feeling well to eat dinner. Maybe in the night she would make a quick snack, when her stomach stops to complain.

She threw her gloves away over the stand beside her bed and then tried to do her homework. It was easier than she thought, so she finished it quickly. When she hadn't anything to do anymore Rogue looked at her unfinished novel book – Pride and Prejudice – and took it to read.

The book quickly took her attention and she fell on its history. Rogue would never tell to anybody how she had a weak point on romances. But it just caught her attention in such a way she could stay all day in her room reading dozens of them. She missed the dinner without noticing.

Rogue made a little pause to take a sip of water from the bottle she left on her stand. When she reopened the book, a little piece of paper fell on her lap. She starred at it, a little confused.

What was that?

Rogue took the paper and then remembered what it was.

The Queen of Hearts.

It was almost the same since Gambit gave it to her. She didn't want to feel like that about a man like him, but it felt so real – the only real part she actually saw from him – she had to keep it. And Rogue had kept it safe; liking to think it was an amulet. Not that she believe in those things, but it was different from the other cards, thanks to Gambit's real trust on it. And he gave it to her.

_Of course he did,_ Rogue thought, _He's a womanizer, it's a normal part of him: do everything wrong and then making something that would make any girl forgive him and fall more and more in love with him._

Rogue avoided this thought and put the card between the pages she was reading.

That was when she heard someone knock the door.

"It's me, Kitty!" she jumped through the door, with her pink pajamas. "Professor Xavier is calling us in the visit room. He said it's something important."

"Okay," Rogue took her blanket off her body and put her jacket and gloves in case she accidentally touches someone.

She looked at her stand and decided to take her book with her. Her stomach was a little better and she felt like drinking a hot chocolate.

Rogue and Kitty walked until the visit room where everybody was waiting for them both. All of the X-men were already wearing their pajamas to get ready to sleep.

"I'm sorry for interrupting all of you," Xavier said. He wasn't wearing pajamas. "But it's about time for me to communicate you about something important."

"What is it?" Bobby asked. "Logan decided stop being our tutor?" his eyes brightened with expectation.

"I heard that, Ice kid," Logan said appearing behind Ororo from a corridor. "Tomorrow you will have to make five turns toward the mansion, for you to remember I'm still your tutor."

The young X-men giggled, and Bobby shut his mouth for good.

"You kids want to join Ice Kid's trip?" Logan asked.

"No sir!" they all said, scared.

Xavier cleared his throat to call attention and continued, "As I was saying, it's time to tell you we have a new X-man."

"Oh, really?" Tabitha asked, anxious."Is it a boy or a girl? What is her or his power?"

Suddenly all the X-men were anxious.

"Calm down, Tabitha." Xavier said, patiently. "You already know him. I want you all to understand that by now he is our friend and it doesn't matter what he did before that."

"You mean he was our enemy?" Scott asked getting distrustful of where this conversation was going.

"He _was_ our enemy."

That was when a tall shadow that was in the corner of the room without anyone noticing started to move.

The shadow came to Xavier's side, Colossus.

Kitty smiled, just like the other X-men. None of them had a real bad feeling about him; they all knew he was a good fellow.

"Hey!" Kitty said running to his direction and hugging his big body.

Colossus smiled and hugged her too. The younger X-men also made their way to the new X-men, very happy.

All of them didn't have any complaining about having Colossus as a friend. They made a line to welcome him as a X-men and he felt very shy about all of the attention.

Rogue put her hand over his shoulder, showing she wasn't the one who liked to show her feelings. She gave him a true smile, though, and said, happy "Welcome to our crazy family."

Colossus' smile widened, "Thank you, Rogue."

She smiled once more and let the others welcome him.

"Rogue," Xavier called her when she made her to the kitchen. Rogue turned her head down to look at Professor.

"Yes?"

"Could you show Colossus his new room?"

Rogue smiled, "Sure."

She waited for all the X-men calm down and go back to their rooms by Logan.

"Come with me," Rogue said coming toward Colossus, grabbing one of his bags. "Ah'll show ya your new room."

He nodded and followed her to the boy's corridor.

Rogue opened the door of the room beside Kurt's and gestured for Colossus to come in. "Here's your room," she said putting his bag beside Colossus' new wardrobe.

He smiled, "Thank you," he told her looking at the view of his window.

"You got luck, 'cuz that's one of the only room's from the mansion that has a cool view of the hills. Oh, the breakfast is at seven a.m., you can lunch here or in another place, and our usual dinner time is at seven p.m. Feel free to have a snack, anyway. We have training sessions four times a week at four p.m., if you like to join us, now that you're not obliged. We also have to clean the house, but we're selected by groups, ant that includes washing the dishes too."

"Wow," Colossus said. "That's a full schedule huh?"

Rogue laughed, "Don't worry, I also suffered the same as you did." She smiled, starred at him some more minutes and finally said when he was taking his things out of his bags. "Well, if anything happens, feel free to ask any of us. Ah'll leave you now to rest."

"Ok, and thank you again," he smiled again and returned his attention to his bag when Rogue closed the door.

It was all new for him, but he felt a very big burden fall away from his back. His family was safe, and Magneto did not appear to want him or any of the others mutants to do anything crazy or world dominating kind.

He's where he wanted to be.

Rogue took the hot chocolate she had done and seated on the chair in the kitchen, putting some cookies over the table to eat with her chocolate.

She opened the book where the Queen of Hearts was and started to read from where she had stopped.

She had a great time actually. Nobody came out during her presence in the kitchen, not even Kitty, with her insomnia hunger… which was a little strange.

Rogue looked up to the clock on the wall when she had finished her hot chocolate. Ten past midnight. She moved toward the sink and put the plate and the cup in it. Kurt's time to wash the dishes…

Rogue took her book and slowly moved to her bedroom.

Everything was quiet and dark. She couldn't say she liked it. But it was easier for her to know that everybody was on their own beds, safe, and away from an accidental skin contact with hers.

She pulled the long sleeves of her pink pajamas until her elbows and made a quick ponytail with her short brown and white hair. It was difficult for her to be like that, with so much exposed white skin.

She hated it so much.

How many times did she want to go to the beach, but wasn't able to wear a bikini? She couldn't even remember the last time she wore one, or even the last time she actually touched someone before the emerging of her nearly mortal powers. And by now, she was forgetting it.

Forgetting how it was to feel someone's warmth without a piece of fabric between her and someone else's. It was awful.

She could only use the other's thoughts. And she didn't want to. It was even worse to know that everybody around her had this trivial privilege…

She lied on her bed and didn't pull the covers. She just lied in there, with her head rested on the soft pillow.

She slowly closed her eyes, letting them decide when it was time to rest. But her powers didn't like the idea. At the same time she fell asleep, they started to work.

_The beautiful short and brown-headed girl looked at his dark eyes. He immediately brushed and moved his face away from her gaze._

C'mon, Lance._ He told himself. _You can't just keep looking at her like that! She likes you now… Or at least she doesn't hate you as before.

_He risked something different…_

_The boy moved his arm a little nearer hers when she seemed to be paying attention to Mister McCoy's class. It looked like an eternity until his fingers slightly touched the back of her hands. Her shinny blue eyes widened in surprise and moved into their now touching hands._

_She blushed when she met his eyes. He didn't move his hands, though._

_Kitty gave him a slight smile, which encouraged him to go further. This time he took her small hand with his big gloved one as quick as his courage could go._

_She didn't move, but she had liked it for sure._

_As if it was some kind of natural reaction of their touching skins, they interlaced their fingers together, and it looked like his hands were made for hers._

_They stayed like that during all the class…_

_Her hand was so warm and smooth; he didn't want to let it go._

Rogue woke up in a second. She sat on her bad and wrapped her knees around her thin defined arms.

She calmed herself down… It wasn't the worst thought she had dreamed, but it was horrible for her to have this kind of feeling by Alvers' thoughts.

Well, at least he liked Kitty for real. What a surprise.

She rested her head over the pillow again and finally fell asleep.

No dreams this time…


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Rogue woke up at seven a.m. and stood up from her bed.

Saturday, one more week gone, still February… Valentine's Day is coming. She actually didn't care about it, or at least it is what she tells the others.

She didn't like the thick way the girls acted in this day, because they were anxious to win – usually expensive – presents from their boyfriends or the boys they have a crush on.

Maybe she was being a little too harsh over this whole situation, but the last time she spent the Valentine's Day with the X-men wasn't that great. Kitty had a date with Lance, but he almost caused an earthquake near the X-mansion because of a "ridiculous" fight – Kitty's words. Kurt was with Amanda, Bobby tried to invite Jubilee to go to the cinema and tried two more times after she told him she was going with Sam – Bobby didn't talk with him for two weeks. Jamie also tried to call Kitty but it wasn't like she cared about it now that the only thing she was thinking of was Lance. Rahne accepted Roberto's invitation to go to a nearby restaurant and "have a piece of pizza". Amara was invited by Tabitha to go on a double date, which didn't end up well, now that Tabitha "accidentally" exploded her date's car.

But the worst of all were Scott and Jean. All the time Rogue got near them in school, they were switching glances. The surprise was that anything happened. They stayed like that, and didn't say anything with the word "date" or "go out" for each other. Rogue knew, though, they are going to a "special" place this time.

She just hoped she wouldn't stay almost alone in the Mansion trying to console Jamie's sadness by Kitty's rejection and Bobby's clear angst against his friend again. However, it looked like Bobby was having a crush on a girl near the place he started to work, so Rogue would only have to care about Jaime.

This time Logan might stay at home – what a great difference! -; Ororo would be away for an Africa project she had; Professor Xavier and Beast may stay in the lab trying to develop new kinds of outfits for the X-men. For Rogue, a more resistant fabric so she wouldn't touch any other X-men accidentally thanks to supposed holes and torns on her uniform during battles. For Bobby something more "comfortable", Jubilee, who had came back some months before – after a very fight with her parents about her returning to the X-mansion –, wanted something that could protect her eyes from her own fireworks… They had so many requests that it would be a hard work actually.

Rogue put exercising clothing: a black tank top, a pair of her black gloves, a pair of black leggings, a short white socks and white tennis.

Saturday was one of the only days of the week she could be dress like that. With so much skin exposed. That's because she spent Saturday's morning to exercise, running through the big propriety of the X-mansion. Almost everybody from the Xavier's mansion wakes up really late on Saturdays.

She took her I-pod and earphones from over the table, where it was charging its battery, and moved to the kitchen.

There, she had taken a bottle of cold water and she ate her breakfast slowly, knowing Logan would be the only one that might come in and "disturb" her.

She didn't see any of the mutants, though. Maybe Logan was still sleeping, or he probably had woken up earlier than Rogue and got off to take a ride on his motorcycle.

When she had finally finished her breakfast, Rogue moved to her bedroom just to brush her teeth and after that, went out of the mansion.

She put her earphones, chose a music and started to run over the stone made path between the propriety.

* * *

Rogue came back from her running some hours later, when some of the X-men were starting to get away from their rooms. Mostly, though, were still in their bedrooms, trying to probably avoid the sunlight coming through their windows and sleep a little bit more.

The Goth girl saw Ororo getting away from the kitchen with her usual long purple skirt and white regatta. The beautiful white haired woman glared at Rogue – now wearing a green coat – and gave her her usual mother-like sweet smile. "Morning, Rogue."

"Morning, Ororo," Rogue smiled back. She liked Storm and her beautiful personality. She wasn't the Kitty-kind: trying to know every gossip in the mansion even if the person didn't want to talk.

She was comprehensive and reserved. Although Ororo tried to talk with people sometimes and make them say things they didn't want to. But that's only when she knew something was terribly wrong, and it would be better to tell then keep it. Just like a mother, she sensed something wrong.

Ororo turned the corner of the corridor and disappeared from Rogue's sight.

Rogue walked into the kitchen, wanting to take something very cold - just because her water ended - and then take a long hot bath in the bathroom.

She walked quietly to the kitchen, but jumped in fright when she almost hit a big and strong body coming out of the kitchen when she turned herself to enter it.

"Oh, sorry, Rogue!" Colossus said, as surprised as her for almost pushing her to the ground.

She smiled, he had just woken up. He was wearing a white shirt and grayish blue shorts as sleeping clothing. His black hair usually teased into a high pompadour was disheveled and its tips were pointing to every possible direction.

"Okay," she said laughing of his gently way mixed with his still sleepy face. She had almost forgotten that Colossus was living in the mansion now. Rogue, as well as all other X-men - even Wolverine - already considered him as friend even before he became an official X-man.

She turned away from the Colossus' body and walked to the fridge to get some orange juice.

Colossus continued to walk out of the kitchen and disappeared from behind of one of the walls. Two seconds later he tilted his head to Rogue, "Uh Rogue?" he said with a puzzled expression.

"Yes, Colossus?" she responded by saying his name involuntarily.

"Um, do you know where I can find a TV here? I searched all over the place, but only found a bunch of remote controls," he said scratching his head and raising an eyebrow.

Rogue laughed, she certainly was not the only one to be a little lost when entered in the X-men.

"In the kitchen," she pointed at the television hanging on the wall next to her, "the living room has one too." And she explained how the televisions work at the institute.

Colossus was a bit confusing at first, but he seemed to understand. His head disappeared from the kitchen entrance, but soon reappeared. "And Rogue..."

She turned back to Colossus with arched eyebrows. "Yes?"

"You can call me Pete," he smiled and she smiled back in response.

"Okay, Pete."

Colossus looked pleased and finally disappeared, probably going to the living room.

Rogue turned to her juice and drank it in two gulps. Then she took a piece of cake on top of the stone balcony and ate it. At the same moment her tongue made contact with the taste of the cake, Rogue grimaced in disgust.

She took a few minutes to get to chew and swallow the cake. It surely was Kitty's words.

She thought of throwing away the rest of the piece of cake, but thought of Kitty's disappointed expression when spotting her cake in the kitchen trash can.

Rogue sighed. She was not the type who liked to please others, but much less was she the type who liked to see others hurt or disappointed.

She decided to eat the rest of piece of cake. It was not that bad, but she certainly was not going to eat it again.

The young Gothic girl directed herself to her room, finishing the piece of cake of undefined taste. She stepped into the shower immediately after finishing her cake and taking her clothes off.

She felt the hot drops of water hit her face, and she was under the shower for a long time...

* * *

The X-Men were all gathered in the dining room to eat on Monday night. All of them were enjoying and celebrating the Colossus' entry in the group, and slowly everyone was getting used to call him Pete.

He answered all the questions from curious members of the group, but none dared to ask something about the Acolytes. Nobody wanted to know about it right now ... They asked how Russia was, what he liked to do, if he had a favorite style of music or sport.

He sheepishly replied, and even before he could continue the subject, another question bombarded him.

"So Pete ..." Tabitha who was facing Colossus began. Her hands had fingers interlocked in each other, her elbows over the table. Her jaw clenched down on her hands. "What brought you to the X-men?"

Pete stood for the twentieth time the route that his hand was making for his mouth to eat.

"Many things ..." he smiled, staring at her. "I think I indentified myself with the X-men than just anything else."

"Pf," Tabitha made a noise with her mouth, as if indignant. "You identified yourself with a bunch of crazy people?" she said.

Everyone at the table looked at her, their faces forming faces of indignation and anger.

"What?" she asked astonished raising her hands, as if defending herself. "I'm telling the truth!"

The younger X-men began to fight with Tabitha after she poked them with comments that only she could give.

For some of them, the dinner was being more fun than usual. Scott and Jean exchanged glances several times while Kitty commented to Logan about a new recipe that had a Canadian kind plate in the middle of it, and asked him if he wanted to try it. At the start, he made an astonished face, knowing the type of cooking Kitty did. Xavier laughed, but tried not to show his fun, or then Logan would put him in the middle of the situation. He could remember when Logan tried a piece of chicken that Kitty had tried to do for thanksgiving. She had seen him through the hallway and called him to the kitchen to taste the chicken.

Logan looked at the piece of roast fowl and found nothing unusual. Kitty cut a discreet piece of it and Logan put it in his mouth. His face froze for a moment as if he had realized that he digested something poisoned.

Kitty looked at him curiously and insecure. "What do you think?" she asked.

Logan pushed his arm to give an OK sign, since the food seemed to have caused a chilling effect over his whole body.

Kitty smiled and took the chicken to the dining room, without even noticing Logan run into the nearest trash can and throw away everything he had placed in the mouth. He ran to the fridge, grabbed a soda can, opened it and drank the liquid as soon as possible to get the taste of the "chicken" away from his mouth. He sighed with relief to feel that the taste had gone out and turned in time to see a Charles Xavier at the entrance of the kitchen with a raised eyebrow and a cunning smile stamped on his face.

Logan made an expression of anger and walked towards the entrance, while ignoring Charles in the exit.

He stopped a few steps down the hall, turned to Charles - who still stared at him, smiling with a twinkle in his eyes - and said, "You tell something, and you're a dead man, Chuck!"

And now, there was Logan, in the same situation. Charles laughed along with Ororo.

Kurt tried to achieve the sauce that was on the other side of the table, and when nobody paid attention, he teleported hanging up from the chandelier, took the pot of sauce and before he could teleport back to his place, he heard Logan cry at him. "Kurt! What I said about hangin' over chandeliers in front of me?" he did not like the fact of seeing Kurt suddenly appearing in front of him. In fact, he did not like anyone doing this. Much less when he was eating. But now – Charles, Ororo, and now McCoy knew - he had quarreled with Kurt to be able to stop Kitty's request.

Kurt quickly returned to his seat and stood still while pouring the sauce over his food.

Amara just looked at Tabitha, embarrassed for having a friend like her, since Tabitha was asking more and more strange questions to Colossus.

Ray, Bobby and Sam disguised their laughter while watching Jamie wondering what had happened with his suddenly frozen juice. Jubilee smiled and mimicked some kisses to annoy Rahne while she was talking to Roberto.

Rogue just watched the table, silently eating her piece of meat. She liked to hear and see the funny scenes of the mansion, especially when the X-Men had to eat together.

Kurt turned to Rogue after eating his piece of meat and began to irritate her with grimaces. If Logan had not been so angry with him at that time - one reason even Kurt didn't understand - Kurt would be teleporting from one place to another, to irritate his foster sister.

He knew that many times, Rogue liked to be alone but sometimes he could not stand seeing her alone, and then forced her to say something – even if it was a rude thing, but he and the entire mansion are used to her behavior.

After a long conversation, the X-men finished their dinner, including dessert.

"Bobby!" Logan said before Bobby could sneak out of the kitchen. And Logan was angry because he knew that Kitty would still offer the promised Canadian dish. Bobby stood like a statue, with his back to Wolverine and with one hand still holding the chair; he squeezed it against the wood when Wolverine called his name.

"Do not you think that you've just escaped," Logan said, "Today is your turn to take the garbage out."

Bobby let out a disgusted grunt. He turned to Logan, with a grimace of weariness, "Oh, Lo! Can't I just do it tomorrow? I am so tired of training and..."

"Now!" Logan crossed his arms, "And you didn't look a bunch tired while freezing Jamie's juice. And don't you _ever _again call me Lo!"

Jamie widened his brown eyes and looked at Bobby angrily, "It was _you_?! I knew it! "

Colossus smiled and rose from his chair, saying, "I'll take Bobby. You can leave..."

Logan tried to refuse, and would say that the mutants could not get used to this kind of behavior or they would become lazy, but Bobby stopped before he could even open his mouth, "ThanksPeteyou'rethemanIoweyaone,bye" and he disappeared from the dining room.

Wolverine sighed; the boy was going to have ten more minutes of running around the mansion tomorrow, so he had better rest himself...

Pete left the dining room, picked up the trash bags Kitty pointed him, to take up to the brass out of the huge mansion.

He walked to the gate and opened it as Xavier had explained.

Colossus found the garbage can, opened the massive cover and threw the bags inside. Then he rubbed his hands on each other and turned back to the mansion. When the gate was shut he suddenly felt something strange, like a premonition. And he knew he was not alone.

He stopped at once.

"_Bonne nuit, mon ami_," he heard a deep voice say a few meters behind him.

*Good Night, my friend

Colossus turned frightened, but when he noticed a deck of cards and two red eyes, he calmed down.

Gambit was with his legs crossed and his back leaning against the wall of the entrance of the mansion, on the inside. His hands shuffling the cards that he used as a weapon, his iron staff was being hold from one of his arms, covered by the sleeves of his pale-brown overcoat.

"Gambit," said Colossus looking around to see if there was anyone else. No one was... Of course there wasn't anyone. Gambit was a professional thief; he would not appear if there were danger. Or else he would not have even given the luxury of avoiding the sign of the cameras as he surely must have done. "What do you want?" Pete said.

Gambit gave him his usual smile. Only one corner of his mouth rising.

He used this expression in two situations: when he was trying to call a girls attention - which was not the case - or when he was going to say something ironically rude and sarcastic.

"_Mon Dieu_! You don't see me fo' weeks and you don't even compliment me right," he also spoke with a sarcastic smile on his face, showing that he cared much less.

His hands were swiftly moving from side to side, shuffling the cards. They looked like two black smudges. Gambit shook his head and darkly looked at Colossus, when he saw the black-haired mutant was not willing to play.

"Yo' know I did not come here willingly..." he spoke with his native accent, his hands still making the shuffling move over the cards, only this time he played them one hand to another. The cards also looked like smudge; only it was white, contrasting with his black gloves.

Colossus agreed. He knew it. And he waited Gambit. Magneto would not have Pyro - a psycho - much less Sabretooth - the bloodthirsty - to send a secret message.

Gambit has increased his half-smile, quiet for a few seconds, looking at his cards, his face leaning down.

He only looked at Colossus again when he opened his mouth to speak. His mouth was a straight and serious line. Only his eyes stared at him, his head still directed to his cards, a red and dark bright past them again. The night made him look even more demonic - it was no surprise he was known as Le Diable Blanc, the White Devil. "Magneto wondered why you left..." he shuffled the cards faster; no joke shown from his face.

Colossus looked at Gambit without any fear.

In just a fraction of seconds, the eyes of the young boy from Louisiana showed a glimmer of curiosity. He knew what had happened to Colossus's family, only for Magneto to fulfill his whims. If Colossus disobeyed Magneto, his family would certainly be punished. Who knows what would happen if Colossus _left_ the Acolytes.

"It was _my_ choice to leave," he said. And by his look, Gambit knew that his family was safe.

He smiled again, still looking at his cards casually. "And den yo' go' allied to our enemies..." he commented, his eyes hidden under his reddish-brown locks of hair.

"I never saw them as my enemies," Colossus replied firmly, his face more serious than Gambit's. There was a silence, but Pete continued. "And it looks like you didn't either..." Gambit gave him a dry laugh, as if what Colossus had spoken was a joke. "Why are you still with him, Gambit?" he asked.

Gambit looked at Colossus. His eyes shone with fun. "_C'est la vie, mon ami_," replied with his half-smile. "Magneto is _non_ poor, _saviez-vous que*_?"

**It's life, my friend

***did you know that?

Colossus shook his head. He should have thought of that ... The only thing Gambit cared about was money... and women.

Gambit pushed his body from the wall and walked toward Colossus, stopping a few feet from him. He dropped the size his staff and held it in his belt. "Alors, Gambit will tell Magneto dat you are no more interested in continuing in our group, oui?" Colossus continued seriously, but nodded.

Gambit shrugged and continued walking, hiding in the shadows of the trees.

"Where you goin'?" Pete asked suspiciously to see that Gambit would not go away.

"Take a walk," he answered without looking back.

"Gambit," said Colossus with a threatening tone. Gambit turned and looked at him askance. "If I know something happen, you know that I will warn the others that it was you."

Gambit gave him a half smile and continued to walk hidden in the trees after saying, "The gate is not the only mansion exit. And Gambit will do not'ing alarming. "

Colossus was suspicious for a few seconds, but if Gambit was actually doing something, Colossus would have been stopped by him, anyway.

The metal morphing mutant shrugged and returned to inside the mansion. He didn't want to know what Gambit was doing; he just wanted to rest now.

Gambit walked all around the mansion easily avoiding the security cameras. He continued to walk hidden by trees, aimlessly. He began to wonder why Colossus decided to join a group like that after seeing two boys fighting through the windows of the mansion. He has seen them a few times in the day they joined forces to fight Apocalypse. One was the ice kid, Bobby, and the other he could not remember the name, but he knew that he had the power of multiplying himself.

Bobby ran down the hall laughing, while making a small strip of ice on the floor for the other boy to slip over the ground. He abruptly sat down on the floor and at the same time he multiplied himself in three clones. Bobby laughed, along with another teenage mutant beside him and the boy on the floor growled in anger.

His clones rose quickly to help the original to stand up and chased the other two mutants. The two left running, but also Bobby's friend stumbled on something on the floor and his powers surfaced. Half the boy's body became a blur and he threw himself without any control until you reach the ceiling. His legs were back to normal, suspended in the air and its trunk stuck in the ceiling.

Bobby and multiplied boy stopped running and looked at the ceiling. The two burst into laughter while the teen arrested asked for help swinging your legs.

Gambit raised an eyebrow. What a great group...

He continued to walk slowly through the trees and lawns of the mansion with his hands in the pockets of his overcoat. He saw a light turn on in the second floor window overlooking the cliff, and soon after facing the sea that reflected the dark sky.

A red head appeared and he remembered her, Jean Grey, the girl with telepathic powers. She was a veteran X-Men. Gambit smiled. She was beautiful, of course, and she could be easily noticed by anyone because of her height, which stands out from the normal girls - perhaps 5'8" -, and to complete her beautiful appearance, she had light eyes and a hair that resembled vivid flames. How not to call someone's attention?

She heard a noise and someone else appeared. Gambit saw that she smiled with joy to see that Scott appeared holding a bouquet of red roses. She caught the bouquet; she smelled the flowers not caring much for them, but for what they represented. "They're beautiful," Gambit could hear her say. "But Valentine's Day is just tomorrow, isn't it?" she asked, laughing.

"It's an early gift," Scott said smiling at her. Jean hugged him by this statement cheerfully.

Gambit walked away, not wanting to meddle in something like that.

_Of course she liked them_... he thought to himself, when he wanted to draw a girl's attention he handed them a flower, red roses especially - even if the intention is slightly different. They would swallow instantly and it was half way to take bring them to bed.

His eyes were distracted again when he saw the light from another window to turn on.

A girl with pale skin and heavy makeup appeared in the window. She was distracted looking at something, in her room, a book perhaps.

Gambit stopped at the same time.

He watched. Her face was neutral, and her eyes followed the lines of the book. As if she were entertained in whatever the history was. Her cheeks were pale, her face had striking and exotic curves.

He stayed there for a good time watching her downstairs, getting distracted by her own distraction.

Gambit knew he got much more thoughtful when it was about that girl.

Since the first time, he found her interesting. He thought even about flirting over her when he was fighting against the X-men for the first time.

But when he saw the way she behaved, and noticing her rebellious and stubborn manners, he decided to play with her, handing her an explosive letter. Surely she would escape, but it was fun to see her with a so absent-minded and silly face, since she did not seem that kind of person. Only when he was discovering more about her, he understood all the motives of her behavior. The way she flashy, but repellently, used to get dressed. The rude way she answered people, and the desperate attempt to drive them away.

It certainly got his attention. But he was interested in seeing her how she really was. Her way was able to disguise, but her eyes betrayed her. They showed everything she wanted. They would shine when afraid or joyful. They would be opaque when she did not like something. And they seemed to be staring into the nowhere when she was sad and/or distracted.

Now they were looking at the book, shining. At least it seemed like that from where he watched.

And she would curser and say swear things the little time he approached her. Maybe she did it to anyone who tried to get near her with a seductive behavior - of course he already did it... he does it with anyone who is a woman and is old enough to blush at seeing a man around.

He shook his head, noticing the effect it was caused at him only by looking at Rogue. He felt something different for her, and he knew it. His heart, reluctantly and against his will, would begin to beat faster and he'd fell butterflies in his stomach, which was really unusual…

He thought about leaving, but he saw something lightly falling from Rogue's book and she also noticed it. Her body leaned to pick up what had fallen on the floor and she briefly disappeared from Gambit's sight, only for a few seconds.

When she reached back, a rectangle was between her thumb and forefinger covered by Rogue's black gloves. Gambit's eyes widened a bit when he realized that this was a playing card... The queen of hearts he had given her a few months ago.

He stood with his face for a moment doubtfully. Then he saw that Rogue's lips arched into a slight smile that she seemed to be holding, not wanting to let it more evident.

When Gambit saw her reaction, his mouth formed a half-smile, slightly wider than normal.

She had kept it.

_Of course she had_, he thought.

Gambit, not wanting to stay more exposed, decided to leave.

His feet still didn't seem to want to go and slowed his walk. _He_ didn't want to go away. But finally his reason convinced himself and he quickened his pace just a few seconds at most.

It then he spotted something on the floor. On the lawn of the property, there was a flower. Not a rose, though, much less some of the other flowers that he would chose to give to a girl.

Yet his eyes were arrested in that little white spot that stood out from the dark green background. That daisy was a higher than normal, more beautiful than normal and different from the others...

Gambit took it from the floor and glared at it for a few moments. That's when he came back to that window he had stopped in front of a few minutes ago. He realized that Rogue wasn't in the room, but the light was still on and he could hear the noise of a shower. He looked around, saw that there was no one in the other windows... He found a tree with its crown facing Rogue's window, a few meters away.

He stood there, and as if floating, took three and long vertical steps over the trunk of the tree to gain bust, he turned his body into the air and threw himself widely, reaching the edge of the window with his hands, without making any noise or effort.

He put the daisy on the window ledge when he managed to squat on it and briefly noted her room.

It was a creamy color, just like the other rooms of the mansiion. His room was tidy, but at the same it had some messed up things, like a perfect teenager's room. Her desk was full of papers that looked like homework and had some frames with photos of Rogue's friends over it.

He smiled when he saw some short pieces of clothing in one corner of the room, thrown there for what seemed an eternity. He could see dark jeans shorts, a short pink tank top that should expose her belly and a short black dress. He could not tell how the model was, but he knew she would look good in it.

Gambit was a few more seconds staring at the room when he decided to leave, since he had heard the noise of the shower stop.

Rogue left the bathroom with a towel around her body and let her hair down, making them to whip over her white shoulders. She sighed at the thought that tomorrow would be Valentine's Day and how everything would be a mess.

She saw Scott walking with a bouquet of roses down the aisle half hour ago - a "pre-Valentine's Day gift" - and pressed her lips together, feeling a bit of jealousy and envy. She could not even expect for someone to give her something for Valentine's Day. Much less Scott. And she liked flowers... It hadn't even need not be an exaggerated bouquet. Once, she had seen somewhere, a guy give a girl a flower with only minor embellishments around it. It was simple, but beautiful.

She moved to her bed where her pajamas were thrown by her some minutes ago, and before she came until it, she noticed a white spot on her window. In the beginning she was confused, but soon realized it was a flower.

At first she felt doubtful ... But then thought that the wind could have had drawn the flower there, by a simple coincidence.

She moved to the window and re-entered in Gambit's view.

For a moment the expression on her face was neutral and a little scared. But he got distracted when noticing she had only a towel wrapped around the body, and his eyes were fixed there for a moment. Her white skin still had some water around and it made her even more striking.

Rogue then smiled and her eyes shone; Gambit turned his attention to her face again. She did not care if the flower was there by coincidence or not.

She just was happy to see it there. She rubbed her stripped fingers over the soft petals of the flower and then put only its tips over the yellow kernels.

She took a glass of water and placed the stem of the daisy inside it. Then she turned back to the window and left it on the anvil, feeling that she had won her Valentine's Day present, even if it was only from the wind.

Gambit genuinely smiled and walked away.

This time, his feet were light, as if he had completed a task.

Rogue looked at the flower for a few more minutes before turning to wear her PJs and read a little.

She opened the book again, finding the queen of hearts and looked at the little flower that the drawing was holding. It was not the same type of flower, but she felt that the card and the flower had something in common. Maybe Gambit...

_No…, _she thought, before his thoughts tried to invade her mind.

It couldn't be that.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The Valentine's Day had been calmer than Rogue imagined. No one appeared whining or complaining in the morning. Even Jaime didn't…

The school was certainly more cheerful, but she could avoid all this. In some way, the flower she found in the corner of her window helped her to calm down and even sleep well ... If it wasn't for the dream she had of two vivid red eyes staring at her and then her hands touching a tanned skin. She woke up in a jump, but fell asleep and dreamed no more.

Her body shuddered when she was almost sure about whom she had dreamed of, which was completely ridiculous…

"Hey," she heard a voice behind her, while tiding up some things from her locket. She turned after she closed it. Rogue was not surprised on seeing Kitty, but on seeing a huge basket full of letters, mostly heart-shaped.

Rogue raised an eyebrow, uncertain, and then returned her gaze to Kitty's face, her blue eyes shining with joy.

"Uh," she seemed doubtful. "What is this?" she asked.

Kitty widened her smile. She raised her other hand holding a wad of pink, empty papers and envelopes, ready to receive a romantic text.

"I, Amara and Tabitha volunteered ourselves to deliver some love letters through the school, like cupids... It's, like, incredible how everyone seems to be in a good mood on Valentine's Day. No one complained because some of the cupids are, like, mutants..."

"Oh," Rogue said looking around, not very interested in the situation.

"So?" She asked curiously. "Don't you, like, feel like writing one?"

Rogue raised an eyebrow.

"Uhh, no thanks," she said leaving Kitty behind and walking down the school's corridor.

"Oh, Rogue! Come on! I-"before Kitty could keep talking, Rogue closed the bathroom door strong enough to show her that it wasn't for Kitty to go in there.

Afterward, Rogue had her classes without anyone disturbing or bothering her. She also made enough effort to avoid Kitty.

Before the last class, she moved out of the school building to read a little bit. Before driving to a bank that stood behind the school's building, near the football stadium, she noticed something different in the school girls. They were whispering to each other and laughing. A main group caught her attention now that it was the one closer to her. At first, Rogue thought they were talking about her, like always, calling her a freak mostly because of her appearance than because of her power.

This time she suspected that it was not about her the girls were talking about, because they were talking in a… flirty way and their giggles were like the ones they gave when boys stared at them.

For a few seconds the Gothic girl was wondering what they were talking about until they noticed her, and they all grimaced at her. One of them, a girl with several holders on her blonde hair, asked: "What's up, freak? Have you lost something?" her other friends laughed. They would keep swearing at her, even though Rogue did not care.

She was about to leave when one of the girls excitedly nudged the blonde girl and said, "He's looking at us!" All of them suddenly forgot Rogue's existence and continued to giggle.

Rogue rolled her eyes and kept walking when the corner of her eye noticed a shadow near one of the trees of the school's entrance. Her eyes widened when she realized that the shadow was familiar and turned her face to the reason of all the giggling girls in front of the school.

Gambit.

Rogue's face was angry and she walked up to him, stomping the floor with her feet. Gambit's dark brown eyes accompanied her as she approached, his half smile growing even wider.

"_Mon chère_," he said, his back leaning against the tree trunk. His hands were in the pockets of his uniform pants and a foot planted in the tree trunk.

"What are y' doing here?" She said crossing her arms and titling her hips to one side, containing her face not to show even more anger.

He shrugged, looking toward the school building. One of the school girls who were passing by saw noticed the presence of the Cajun and smiled at him. He winked at her and she giggled walking away. "Just enjoying the view from yo' school, chère," he replied, turning his attention to her.

Rogue twisted her mouth. He was there to flirt with the girls from her school...

"Do you know dat women are way more... _sensitive_ on Valentine's Day?" he smirked.

"You're exaggerating," she replied coolly, containing up to not swear at him and kick him away.

Gambit took something that was stuck in his belt in its back and Rogue contented herself not to widen her eyes. He had a big wad of girl's letters in hand, one fell to the ground, but he didn't seem to really care. He looked at her with an expression that said _Oh, are you sure?_ "An' Gambit doesn't even study here," he commented. He moved the letters from one hand to the other, pretending to read them, the grin still on his face. "And you did something for me, chère?" He asked, holding up his eyes on her face.

Rogue grimaced, "Only in your dreams, swamp rat!" she replied indignantly.

He shrugged, ignoring his new nickname. "Well I have something for you," he showed a small pink box wrapped in a red tie that only now Rogue realized Gambit was holding.

She was silent, staring from the little box to Gambit's eyes that were strangely normal, without those black backgrounds and red irises. Still, she could see that red glow through them.

She did not move, but then asked, "Is this a joke?"

He raised an eyebrow, not understanding the question. He saw that she was angry, but he did not understand why.

Rogue was angry at how he was such an idiot. It looked like he was doing it to annoy her.

"Why is it a joke?" He asked still trying to understand, but his face was recovered. He smiled again at her, his eyes narrowed in a seductive way. And he shook the hand that held the little box as a signal for Rogue to take it.

She kept staring at him with her arms crossed, "Ah do _not_ want that!" She replied, stubbornly.

Instead of hearing this as an insult to leave, Gambit moved toward her, their noses a few inches of distance.

Rogue tried to pull away, but Gambit used his other hand that had left the cards to hold her tightly around the waist. He pressed her belly against his. Rogue thought to punch him, but he approached until his mouth was millimeters from her ear. If she moves, even if only one finger, the skin of their faces for sure will touch.

"D' you want another kind of gift, _mon chère_?" he asked whispering, his breath tickling her ear. She felt a smell of cigarettes mixed with a scent that seemed to be his alone, a perfume maybe.

She stood still, feeling her cheeks burn. He dropped his face again and looked at the girl's lips. He tried to approach a little longer, but Rogue finally reacted and bent her back backwards, turning her face away from Gambit's.

"Mah gift to you is a coma!" she said letting go of his embrace, she could not accept how he did not seem to notice that the risk he had on touching her. But she was sure it was something involuntary for him. Surely Gambit did it with all the girls. But he would not win anything in trying to get her attention. Rogue then came to the conclusion that it was just to annoy her. He should be there to flirt with some girls from her school and harnesses to take her patience away.

He smiled. Rogue walked away from him, giving up on getting him away from the school. If he was not there to deal with Magneto's issues, she would not meddle in.

Gambit grabbed her by the hem of her jeans, and before she could say anything, he put the small box in her back pocket. Rogue jumped up and walked away.

"Take it, dat's yours anyway," he whispered in her ear.

She thought about taking the box and returning him throwing it at his back, but Gambit has moved away.

Her face turned red and her fists clenched, she turned away, even more nervous when the signal rang and she lost her reading.

Some girls faced Rogue with anger after seeing how Gambit reacted when Rogue came near him. During class, she could not fail on holding the box, but she did not want to open it for some reason.

"Rogue" the Gothic girl heard Kitty's voice behind her as she walked down the aisle to leave, and sighed. She turned to the girl. "Are you, like, really sure you don't want to..." Kitty began, but her eyes saw the little box in Rogue's hand. "What is this?"

"Uhh," Rogue tried to find a reasonable answer, but Kitty was faster.

"You won this one?" She clapped her hands, excited. "From who?"

"Uhh," she tried to answer again, but Kitty had picked up the package and noted.

"Won't you open it?" She asked curiously.

Rogue shrugged. She was not very curious to know what it was. Gambit did not seem the spending much money type, even when it was about girls. Maybe he caught something somewhere, tucked it into a little and decided to give it for her, as if it looked funny seeing Rogue angry. "You can open it if y' want," Rogue said continuing to walk.

For a few moments, she heard only the noise from Kitty opening the box.

"Wow!" Kitty said when he saw what was inside.

Rogue turned to her friend and saw her blue eyes sparkling with surprise.

"What is it?" this time she was curious.

Kitty took a small pendant with her thumb and forefinger, and looked it for a moment. Rogue was the one who was more surprised. Maybe because this wasn't what she expected...

It was small, but beautiful. A silver daisy, simple. Its core was a small transparent and shiny stone.

Kitty jumped of joy when Rogue took the pendant from her hand to see if it was real...

"How sweet, a silver pendant!" Kitty said, still staring at the piece on Rogue's palm.

A daisy. It could only be a joke ... She averted her gaze from the pendant and closed her hand. Her eyes met Kitty's.

"Who gave you that?" she asked.

"Uhh," she looked around as if trying to find an answer in the lockers around them. "Ah... hm ... Ah don't know."

"You don't know?" Kitty's eyes widened, as if she herself had found a possible answer. "I can't believe it... You have a secret admirer?" she asked.

"What? Oh… Yeah! I guess," she shrugged. Kitty jumped a few times, as if the gift was for her.

"That's so romantic!" she dipped herself in her own fantasies. "It could be, like, someone you never thought it could be!"

_Tell me about it,_ Rogue thought, looking at the pendant again, glaring at the stone in the middle. _It's fake, for sure_... she thought. It couldn't be the authentic. And what if the silver pendant may not even be silver as Kitty thought to be?

Gambit was not like that. She herself knew. She had taken up his mind two or three times, and still some things from him invaded her head. When she would think about buying a shirt and grimaced at the sight of the price tag. Or when a woman passed by, this was one of the worst parts. Rogue almost said something in French to a woman a little older than her passing and felt her whole face reddening. After that, she mentally cursed Gambit in French.

"Will you wear it?"

"_Wear it_?" Rogue raised an eyebrow, leaving her thoughts.

"Of course," Kitty rolled her eyes. "For your admirer to see that you liked it!"

Rogue sighed, as if her friend was a child. "Kitty, do ya really think this here is a real gift? Maybe it was just a prank."

"Of course it is _not_!" She seemed angry. "You for sure liked it... Pranks are made to leave the victim sad! And that to me is not joke!"

Rogue raised an eyebrow again, deciding to agree with Kitty to stay in peace. She did not know it was Gambit who gave Rogue the pendant...

* * *

Rogue looked at the little daisy metal on her hand. She even doubted if it really was a real gift. She could not trust Gambit. And a part of her knew his type very well. That he would do and "give" everything to make all the girls at his feet. No exceptions. And that could very well include a fake jewelry...

Maybe he stole it.

She left the pendant over her desk and then looked at the daisy in her window.

It was already fading. But still, she wanted to stay with the flower, perhaps as a brand page or something... along with the queen of hearts.

Rogue shook her head.

_Fuck you, Gambit! _she thought and left the room slamming the door shut.

For a few minutes she walked through the "garden" of the mansion and decided to sit on the cliff edge of the mansion, just before the sea. She looked at the sky as the sun began to set and gave a rosy color to the clouds. The moon appeared as a white half circle slightly smaller than the sun itself. She felt the cool breeze from the sea and she was gradually deciding to go back to the mansion.

Rogue knew that in a few months she would be forced to feel more heat than the others, by simply starting the summer.

She took off her gloves and ran the tip of her stripped fingers through her face. They seemed innocent and fragile. Nothing disgusting.

She took one of the little stones beside her and threw one by one toward the sea.

"Rogue?" A deep voice called behind her.

Rogue almost jumped, but she recovered herself and looked back.

Scott.

Her cheeks blushed instantly.

"Are you okay?" He sat next to the Gothic girl, looking at the sky.

"Oh yes," she replied almost whispering. At the same time, she cleared her throat and also turned her face forward, pretending to admire the sky.

They were quiet for a few seconds. Rogue felt an uncomfortable silence, but Scott seemed completely fine with that.

"You seem distracted..." he finally said."I mean, more than usual."

She blushed again. "I'm not the biggest fan of Valentine's Day," she said before filtering her words and soon regretted having spoken it.

Scott surprisingly smiled. "I understand. It's all very messy and hectic..."

Rogue also smiled when he saw that he was trying to be friendly. But her smile collapsed when she thought he would not see her more than a friend, sister in the maximum.

"Yeah," she said, better than saying nothing.

She threw another pebble into the sea, and Scott copied her.

"Where's Jean?" she asked, again without filtering her words.

"Changing clothes, we're going out."

"Oh," was what she could answer. Her head sank behind her knees.

_Of course, _she thought. _It's Valentine's Day._

Rogue tried to smile.

They really liked each other, Scott and Jean. And Rogue knew they both deserved one another. One felt affection for the other, and they protected each other. But she blamed herself for liking him, without even being able to fight for him. Her powers. That was why she accepted the two together, for the simple fact that she had no chance with Scott.

_Great,_ Rogue thought to herself.

Scott was quiet and Rogue didn't know what to say but didn't try to strive more. She knew he liked the silence, and at that moment he was really not trying to talk. So in the end, it was quiet and a little calmer between each other.

She thought back to the things that happened today. Kitty taking letters with Amara and Tabitha. Gambit and his eyes strangely normal. The way he put his hand on her waist without any fear of touching her skin at all. The pendant ...

_The fake pendant..._ she thought, her hands clasped on her knees.

"You okay?" Scott said, noting the change on Rogue's mood.

Her eyes watched him, and she thought about telling him the truth.

"It's nothing ..." he replied.

He raised an eyebrow, "It doesn't look like nothing."

She sighed. Maybe if she told him. "It's just that... some things happened in school, nothing more."

He smiled, "You mean about the gift?" he asked. Rogue looked at him frightened. "Kitty told Jean." He justified...

Rogue laughed. _Of course she did_. She was silent a few seconds more, but decided to continue because she knew Scott would make her say it. "It was just a little prank, but Kitty is stubborn to say it wasn't."

"Maybe because she is right... Why do you think someone would make a joke by giving you a gift?"

She shrugged, "Perhaps because of this whole story to be mutated. And Ah'm not the type that guys like to give presents," she invented. The story of the secret admirer was going too far.

He smiled, but he was serious. "Not everyone hate mutants, you know." she stopped to think a little, but without really thinking about what he had said. The two were silent for a few moments.

"Scott?" Jean called him from behind; stopping the silence. She was facing the pool, a few meters away.

Scott looked back and waved to Jean, saying he was going.

He stood and looked at Rogue. Part of her did not want him to leave. Before she could even tell, he placed a hand on his shoulder and Rogue automatically raised her face to glare him.

"And just for the record," he said looking at her with a smile. "You deserve getting gifts, Rogue. You're worth a lot," and he left.

Rogue's eyes widened and blushed as he walked away, still shocked by what Scott said.

She liked it, of course. But she knew he had said this as a friend. As a brother, he _sounded_ like one. Nothing more…

But at the same time she also knew that when he says something like that, he means every word. And Rogue felt good about it.

She rested her chin on her knees and closed her eyes, trying to imagine Scott at her side again. For a few seconds, it was he who was there.

But then, his figure was replaced by Gambit's. And before she could think about what she was wondering, she began to wonder how it would feel to touch his skin.

She remembered his smell of perfume and cigarettes that should come primarily from hours sitting at the tables of bars, probably playing cards. A memory of him crossed her mind: one of the several times he played.

_All at his side had cigars or cigarettes in their mouths, including Gambit himself, very concentrated on the cards in their hands. In the background, the lighting of a bar at night and several waitresses in lack of larger pieces of clothing walked back and forth, serving drinks and snacks at other tables. A blues mixed with rock music style was playing around the bar. Some men were playing pool at green tables..._

_Gambit waited for the others to put the cards down and as always, he won. He smiled and looked at the man before him, which didn't seem liking to lose._

_He was tall, well dressed and strong. Wealthy. His blue eyes stared Gambit for a moment and then he threw a bunch of keys in the direction of the young red-eyed boy, along with money from the other participants._

_Gambit took the keys with a grin and a raised an eyebrow to the rich man._

_"Make good use of it," the man complained, getting up and leaving with two men at his side. Gradually the table was emptying itself, leaving only Gambit._

_He stood up putting the money in the pocket of jeans. He finished smoking his cigarette with pleasure and went to the bar._

_He leaned one arm over the high wooden desk and asked for another glass of vodka._

_He drunk his glass slowly, enjoying every sip he took. When he finished his glass, he looked to his left, noticing someone glaring at him._

_A woman, twenty years at most, blond hair and fulfilled, brown eyes that sparkled while she looked at him._

_"You look very happy..." she said with her cushioning voice. Her high heeled foot bouncing up and down._

_Gambit smiled. His mouth went up only in one corner. "Oui, chère," he replied. He lifted the bunch of keys that previously belonged to the rich blonde. "Remy has just won an airplane. Porquoi not be happy? "It wasn't exactly a plane... it was more for glider. But it was one thing, and it should be worth a note. Not that he was thinking about selling it._

_"Carol," she said._

_"Remy LeBeau," he replied with a smile._

_"I know who y' are... Everyone in New Orleans heard of the LeBeaus and the famous red-eyed Gambit. "_

_He smiled at her._

_She laughed like a seducer. "You must be very good at cards to win a plane," she commented._

_He leaned toward her and said, "Remy is good at many things."_

_She smiled, enjoying the way he approached. They stood in silence for a few more minutes and she finally said, "Maybe one day y' take me to a trip in yo' plane."_

_"What about Gambit takes you now, chère?" he asked._

_She laughed. Taking the hand he stretched out for her._

Rogue began shaking her head angrily. _Damn! Damn!_

She tried desperately to forget the memories that were not hers. But Gambit's thoughts still seemed to try to fight to gain control. She hated it. She hated the fact that precisely the memories of Gambit stay in her head, more than anyone else she has ever absorbed.

She felt something different in her stomach, and cursed herself for it.

She just had a memory about him flirting with another girl and yet the unconscious part of her body did not seem to understand it. Something about Gambit, in which Rogue didn't know what was, would make her feel nervous and frustrated. And the fact that he would flirt with her to satisfy his whims would not make her any happier.

_This bastard Cajun,_ she thought to herself, and again she started swearing at him.

As always, remembering him would make her feel uncomfortable and would end with a moment of tranquility. She stood up throwing one last stone in the sea, before turning her body back to the mansion and kicking of anger anything that would be in her way.

She was just another girl Gambit wanted to add to his list. Nothing more… He even dared to touch her to conquer her. Of course he did...

She went upstairs and stamping her feet firmly and violently closing her room door. Gradually, Rogue convinced herself more and more that she did meant _nothing_ to Gambit, and that she should not care about it. He felt nothing for her, unless attraction to any kind of women.

Rogue then remembered the pendant thrown over the desk. The small stone of the core Daisy shone as if there was a little star in it.

For a moment she thought of all the times in which Gambit gave something to the women he was interested. But that left her more confused now than at any reminder she had about Gambit charming a woman... in any of them he gave them more than a single flower.

So why would he give Rogue a pendant?

_Because I'm a challenge for him... _she thought. _And besides, the pendant is false._

She thought of throwing it away, but she couldn't make it. So she just left it there.

She growled in anger and also went to take a bath hitting the bathroom door.

_Again, screw you, Gambit._


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The weeks passed by and spring was already in the middle of it. The classes were also passing by, and fast. For Rogue that was great... She was finally nearing the end of the school. She would stop forcing herself to study until late, much less to worry about waking up early. After that college would come, but she would think about it later.

Strangely everything seemed calm, until the weekend, when Juggernaut reappeared in the middle of one of the Bayville Avenues destroying everything ahead.

"But we won him last time!" Kitty said. All were gathered in the basement, in a room with a screen showing a report about Juggernaut, throwing his twentieth car in a store.

"Actually Bobby just froze him, and Rogue vrew him in ve river until he disappeared," Kurt said.

"He must be coming here," Scott said and looked at Professor Xavier.

The wheelchair telepath was slow to respond, with something thoughtful in his mind. Rogue looked at him a little worried. She had some thoughts of Xavier about how he felt guilty about being forced to invade in his half-brother's mind, without finding out another solution. And she knew he felt even guiltier for having to do this over and over again.

"Let's go there..." he said selecting the group that would face Juggernaut. The veterans were chosen along with Bobby. Wolverine began a series of trainings for the young X-men in the Danger Room and went with them to fight over Juggernaut.

In X-van, the X-Men prepared themselves psychological and mentally to face Juggernaut. They knew that even with all the progress they had, they could still lose.

Upon arriving at a building near where Juggernaut was, the X-Men made a tactic to try to take the helmet off the mutant, so he could be controlled by Professor Xavier.

That's when Bobby noticed that something was not right. Juggernaut's red helmet, its edges were welded in a way that even the pins that held it had melted.

All felt more insecure.

"It will be harder than we thought..." Kitty said.

"No," said Wolverine. "I have an idea." Everyone looked at the black haired mutant and he continued to explain, "What you kids just need to do is to distract him... I can cut that helmet off in five seconds... seven at most," his lethal claws arose from his fists.

Everyone stared at him. Of course Wolverine would say something like this. But the idea could go right, and it was the best they had at the time.

All were divided into three groups. The first group was Kitty, Colossus and Bobby that should stand in front of Juggernaut, the second was Jean and Rogue - that would be left - and the third was Kurt and Scott - to the right. The plan was to annoy Juggernaut and let him distracted enough to not realize Wolverine coming from behind to create a big enough hole in his helmet for Xavier's mind to control him a few meters on the second floor of a building.

The plan went well at first. They moved each in their positions and began to close slowly for Juggernaut to notice them. But then, the unexpected came. A huge mass of fire moved and surrounded Juggernaut - which also seemed a bit surprised - as a kind of protection against the X-Men.

For some time, the X-Men were unable to see what happened at the point Juggernaut was, but then three shadows appeared in front of the huge mutant.

Pyro, Sabretooth and Gambit…

All were even more frightened.

Pyro's maniacal laughter distracted them. The red-headed teenager looked at the still confused Juggernaut and said with his Australian accent. "Don't worry, big head, we're here just to help you," he laughed. The flames suddenly became a huge oriental dragon as Pyro energetically moved his arms up and down.

The fire dragon followed Kurt and Scott. And they ran up, until Bobby went after the dragon to try to stop him with his ice powers. Pyro laughed with his new challenge.

Juggernaut growled, "You may even help me, as long as you leave Xavier for me!" he shouted as he rushed forward, looking for his half-brother wherever he was. Pyro shrugged and continued to manage his fire dragon. Sabretooth ran directly to Wolverine.

Gambit took from his belt a new deck of cards and started to throw them over the nearest X-Men.

Kitty, Colossus, Jean and Rogue tried to stop Juggernaut. Colossus was the first to run toward the huge mutant, trying to somehow let him unconscious. Juggernaut caught him by the wrists and flung him until his body slammed into a wall nearby.

Kitty rushed to help Colossus and when she saw he was okay, ran alongside Jean and Rogue to help them. They had a quick plan; Jean would distract Juggernaut levitating cars over the mutant. Kitty would bring Rogue behind the large mutant through the ground. At this point, the Gothic girl would be able to spot an exposed part of his skin to leave him unconscious or to at least match the fight.

Jean levitated some already destroyed cars towards Juggernaut and he got irritated by the first car launched, moving behind the redhead. She waited for a few seconds for him to get closer and her body levitated off the ground a few feet above the Juggernaut.

The mutant did not appear to like it and got some heavy objects near him to hit Jean and let her fall to the ground. He threw manhole covers, car tires and even posts, but Jean could easily go astray.

"Gr, you cannot stay there all day!" He yelled shaking his fists while looking for a new object to throw.

Jean smiled and replied with her hands around her mouth. "That's what we'll see!" Her smile widened when she found Kitty and Rogue appearing through the floor behind Juggernaut.

Juggernaut however saw the two girls coming from behind, through the reflection of the glass of a nearby building. His face became even more enraged and he turned his trunk hitting Kitty's face before she could realize it and become intangible. Shadowcat's small body was thrown five meters away and rolled through the asphalt until it stoped.

"Not you again!" he shouted to the Gothic mutant.

Rogue dodged from the frantic attempts of Juggernaut to attack her. Jean tried to help her, throwing objects at Juggernaut to get his attention, which made him even angrier. He got a bigger car than the others he had thrown before and finally hit the redhead, who was distracted with Bobby forming an ice bridge to escape Pyro's fire dragon nearby.

Scott heard the Jean's cry when she was hit by the car and ran away before letting her fall to the ground. He said told Kurt to distract Gambit. The blue-skinned teenager nodded.

Rogue noticed Scott running a few yards from where she was. She smiled, but then realized he had to thrown his body to get to Jean before she hit the floor. This left her distracted and she missed Juggernaut's big hand catching her and throwing her to a street crossing the Avenue, away from other X-Men's fight. She felt her body scraping the asphalt of the street and she hit her head against a pole, leaving her unconscious in the now deserted street.

Jean managed to wake up on a jump and noticing Scott holding her. She smiled at him and he smiled at her, but not for long. Juggernaut turned to them and ran toward the couple. Scott ran with Jean over his arms until she recovered enough to fly and carry Scott with her. Juggernaut grunted by not achieving his target again, until Colossus finally woke up and threw his body against the uncontrolled mutant. The two began to fight with punches and kicks that made loud sounds.

Kitty woke up few minutes later and went to help Bobby. She found Pyro in the middle of the Avenue having fun while chasing Bobby with his flames, now transformed into a huge eagle. Kitty managed to appear behind Pyro and grabbed one of the main cables of the boy's "backpack" that generated fire.

The red-haired boy noticed something behind him and was just trying to thwart her. Kitty hugged Pyro's neck from behind and tried to pull the cable with her free hand. She succeeded, but Pyro still could produce fire with the other hand. He threw her on the floor and turned all his attention to the brown haired girl. He laughed, "Wassup, sheila? Can't you support staying away from Pyro, hm?" he laughed and generated fire up from the tube of his right arm, which still worked. The flames became a serpent floating through the air and looked it at Shadowcat. The snake ducked its head quickly, as if it were sticking its prey for Kitty.

At this moment she phased the floor again and the flames that once were a snake spread the asphalt. Pyro raised an eyebrow and before he could notice, he felt his back freezing and he couldn't produce flames through the tube of his right arm anymore.

He looked behind him and before he could say anything, an ice-covered fist hit him in the face. The redheaded boy fell to the ground unconscious.

Bobby smiled and said, "Just helping you to cool off, hot head," he laughed at his own joke and Kitty appeared beside him with a raised eyebrow, not finding Iceman's comment funny. Yet she smiled at him, "Good work as a team!" Bobby said as the two looked at Pyro's.

Kurt was having a hard time trying to dodge Gambit. It was as if he knew exactly the next place the mutant was going to teleport. And before Nightcrawler appeared in there, the Cajun was already throwing a loaded card in the direction he had just teleported. Gambit was staring at him with amusement, with its ghastly eyes and seemed to be reading his mind. The blue mutant had moved so many times he was even getting further and further from the other X-Men.

Kurt had to think of something fast, before he was completely tired, thought of throwing something from a tall building to hit him. But Gambit was too smart and too fast to be hit.

He would have to do something different.

Kurt teleported to the edge of a building window, that was in a street crossing the Avenue. Gambit watched him with his evil eyes shining and a scary smile.

Kurt stuck his tongue out at him, as he always did to annoy Scott and Rogue. Gambit was quick and threw a card loaded in the direction of the blue mutant. Out instead of going away, Kurt took the card.

Gambit raised an eyebrow, not understanding what was happening, until Kurt teleported again and reappeared behind the Cajun, putting the charged card in the Acolyte's belt.

Nightcrawler was ready to teleport again when he saw Rogue's body, a few meters away from him. He noticed she was trying to get up, but she was a little distracted.

Gambit, without noticing Rogue, laughed and quickly took the card from his belt. He discharged it, turned to the blue mutant and kicked him over his chest, taking advantage of the boy's distraction. Nightcrawler fell on the floor a few meters away, feeling numb because of his pain in the chest.

Rogue moaned of pain and widened her eyes when seeing Gambit kicking her foster brother. She watched as Gambit had fun shuffling his cards and he started to come back to the Avenue. At first, she planned on surprising him and let him unconscious on the ground, but something stopped her. The street in which they were in had several alleys; Gambit was passing by one of them. And in that same alley, she spotted a group of teenagers slightly older than Rogue. She at first thought they were hiding in fear of Juggernaut's attack.

But then she saw technological guns in the teenagers' hands - four or five - and soon after that, she recognized Duncan among them, pointing the same gun he had used several times against the X-Men and Evan's group, the Morlocks, to Gambit.

Rogue's eyes widened and she ran, without understanding exactly why.

Gambit was not her friend, he wasn't even at the same team as hers, and he had just left her adopted brother unconscious on the ground, even if he did not making him any serious damage. But anyway, she just reacted and ran after him. She knew she was doing it because she was not a cold person that could stand on seeing others suffer and do nothing to help. But she was doing it mainly because she could not bear the image of Gambit suffering. If she screamed, he certainly would turn to see her, but he would not have time to dodge Duncan's ray gun, even being as fast as he was.

"Look out!" she said when she pushed Gambit to the ground with all her might. She tried to jump away, but the Duncan's ray gun hit her belly and she moaned in pain.

Duncan, who realized too late the girl getting in front of his target, did not care much when seeing he had just hit another mutant, a Scott's mutant friend, which was even way better.

One of his friends put his hand on Duncan's shoulder and smiled, "Well done, man." His other friends celebrated.

Gambit looked as Rogue shook and put her hands on his belly. She tried to pretend she wasn't feeling anything but the pain didn't help. At first he thought she was attacking him, and when he fell to the ground he didn't take any longer to get up and get his bo staff. But then he realized she was doing the opposite.

His eyes widened when he saw that she had been hit by whatever it was. The Cajun was immobilized, and his body unresponsive. Rogue's eyes were fixed on his, but they didn't seem to see him. She then looked at her hands that held her belly, her gloves absorbing a dark and hot liquid. Blood.

At that moment she moaned in pain and knelt on the floor, trying to stop the sickening feeling of fainting. She knew the worst thing she could do now was sleep. That did not stop her to bow to try to alleviate the pain. Her hands were trying hard to prevent it to bleed more. It looked like a burn. It was not very deep, but it could be serious if she did not treat it fast.

She did not remember it being so painful.

Gambit ran to her, "Chère?" he said crouching down in front of Rogue. He put a hand on her shoulder, but she didn't look at him. "Rogue?" he tried again, she replied with another groan of pain.

Duncan looked at Gambit and his friends took a chance. They pointed their weapons again for the mutant, but before they could shoot, they were faced by two scary eyes. A red glow passed them, and it was like they could kill them just by a simple glare. The teenagers held their trembled arms, hesitating.

Duncan saw the fear in his friends' eyes and growled, "Let me do that, you cowards!" he cried, pushing the boy closer from him away and looking at Gambit.

Before he could shoot, three glowing cards were hurled through the air and fell in front of the group of adolescents. Duncan turned his attention to the ground and to the three cards, three jokers that wanted to explode. He widened his eyes and shouted to the group as he ran away from the alley, "Run, run! It's gonna explode! "

The others fled and two seconds later, there was an explosion. The buildings that made part of the alley lost some bricks that went flying sideways. Fire engulfed the alley and a black smoke rose into the sky. The five teenagers were flung by the explosion of letters and were unconscious on the floor. Some affected more than others.

Gambit ignored the urge to go to those adolescents and make each swallow an explosive card. He turned his attention to Rogue and his eyes flashed of concern now. She was in so much pain that her hands tightly clenched his shirt sleeves. Her head was resting on his chest and she tried not to faint.

Gambit's eyes looked to the sides looking for something useful to help her. What he found instead were two yellow eyes widened a few feet away.

Gambit did not know what to say, but he knew Nightcrawler awakened too late to understand the situation as it really was, because the next moment, the blue-skinned teen teleported near Gambit and pushed him from Rogue by his shirt, leaving her crouching down on the floor.

"You! What have you done to my sister?" he pushed Gambit, and the red-eyed mutant staggered back. He tried to calm himself down, because losing his head and jumping over the boy would not help Rogue in anything.

"It wasn't me who did dis to her, I was jus' tryin' to help her," Gambit said trying to get closer to Rogue, but Kurt did not let him. Gambit was so nervous he forgot to speak in third person, as he usually does.

Kurt growled, and did not believe him. Gambit was the most treacherous of the Acolytes. He bluffers like no one... at least that's what it looked like. And his name didn't help. "Why don't I believe you?" he asked.

Gambit sighed, trying not to lose his head. He could control himself; it was one of the things he did best. Years of practice in poker games gave him this ability. But that situation was completely different than he was used to face...

He looked at Rogue, who was trying to get up, but always failing and getting back squatting. A little blood came from her mouth, and Gambit's presentiment that that wound was more than seemed it looked got confirmed. He tried again to calm himself and turned his eyes to the blue-boy forward him.

"Listen, I know you have every reason on not trusting Gambit..." the Cajun said. "But trust him now. Gambit did not'ing to her and if we don' do something, and fast, Rogue can have no mo' chance! "

Kurt's eyes lost some of its anger and the boy involuntarily turned his face to Rogue's body behind him. Gambit stood still, he thought it would be better not to move to not start a fight. Kurt looked back at Gambit, his red eyes not detaching from Rogue's body, in a pure concerned expression.

Kurt was not the smartest of team, he knew it. He wasn't like Wolverine, much less like Professor Xavier. He could not read minds. But he could read expressions, and Gambit's was not so difficult to read. He heard Rogue grunt of pain.

The blue mutant left a sigh, as if giving up thinking that Gambit had caused the wound in his foster sister. Gambit looked at Kurt and the teenager consented, "We must do something ..." the boy said. The two went to Rogue.

Kurt was still leery at first, but as Gambit tried to calm Rogue down, he was really starting to believe that the Cajun did not want to cause any harm to Rogue.

Gambit put one hand on the almost unconscious girl's back. She paid no attention at all, just trying to ease the pain without fainting.

"I'll take her to the hospital..." Kurt said, trying to touch her, to take her to a nearby hospital.

"Non..." Gambit said placing his hand on the boy's arm. "They will mess up mo' dan 'elp her," he commented. Doctors would surely touch Rogue even before they could do something for her. Gambit thought for a moment and remembered something, thinking how idiot he was for not having remembered this before. "Wolverine," he told Kurt, at the same time the boy understood what he meant.

Kurt took Rogue's body by his arms, despite the objections of his sister's pain. He thought of teleporting, but then looked at Gambit. "Are you coming?" he asked.

The Acolyte said no with his head and told him, "Gambit will only delay you if he comes wit' you." Kurt nodded, but looked at him for a few moments, not saying anything.

"Thanks," he finally spoke. Gambit nodded and Kurt teleported with Rogue in his arms.

Wolverine in the end succeeded putting into action his original plan, even though in a little different way. He left Sabretooth unconscious, hanging him in one of the masts on top of a building. Then Colossus managed to leave Juggernaut disoriented with the help of other X-men - slamming his fists on Juggernaut's ears under the helmet. Wolverine jumped at the chance, came up behind and made a huge hole in the red helmet, and Charles took the chance to invade his half-brother's mind and let him unconscious.

The rest of the X-men cheered. Then Wolverine said, "Where's blue and Rogue?" they looked at all sides, looking for their partners over the now completely destroyed Avenue.

Wolverine would have used the communicators to call when Kurt appeared in front of him. In the beginning the Adamantium mutant almost screamed at him, but then he saw Rogue in his arms, along with the huge wound in her belly, and his eyes widened.

Kurt was the first to speak, desperate. "Logan, help her!" he put her down and stared at Wolverine. The man nodded and took his gloves, pressed his palms on her pale and icy cheeks. He felt dizzy and gradually weakened as the girl absorbed his life energy. He forced himself to stay awake until he saw Rogue's wander lowering its size.

He removed his hands from her face and forced himself to stay awake. But he knew that when he got home, he would throw himself over his bed and sleep. Kitty put her hand on Logan's to see if he was okay and then turned her attention to Rogue, lying on the floor.

She was completely healed. Her face had lost the expression of pain and the only thing left was the blood that had already left her body. Her eyes were closed and she was asleep, exhausted.

Kurt gave a sigh of relief, as well as all the other X-Men.

Logan stood up with difficulty and was panting as he spoke, looking around. Juggernaut had been taken to the maximum security prison. Pyro and Sabretooth - Logan realized - had gone as soon as the X-men took their eyes away from the two, and Gambit ... surely had gone too. "Let's go back to the mansion," he thought about carrying Rogue's, but Colossus soon caught her, knowing that Logan was too weak for that.

All moved to their transports, tired of fighting and hoping to take a hot bath and fall into bed. The sun was threatening set down every passing minute. Even Bobby had difficulty on speaking. Kitty walked beside Colossus, looking at her friend on his arms with concern. Scott had his arm around Jeans waist and she was with her head resting on his shoulder. Wolverine walked beside Xavier to join the X-van and crashed into its bank. Kurt, who was among the last to get in the car, looked back with the impression that someone was watching them. Fifteen feet away, behind one of the many wrecks that were on the Avenue, Gambit seemed breathless. As if he had ran up the path from the street to where the X-Men were in just two minutes.

Kurt agreed with his head, as if answering a question that was in the mutant's eyes on the other side of the Avenue. Nightcrawler let a smile escape from his mouth as a way of thanks, and Gambit smiled back trying to hide the relief in his face. Two seconds later, he disappeared, and Kurt went to the car.

Without even knowing or making any effort, Gambit managed to get the trust from a X-man.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

_In time, he fell in love with these two big eyes, completely clear and expressive, showing their joy at seeing him. She stared at him with anxiety and it didn't seem she could get happier. She was radiant in her white and adorned with lace and layers dress, in a spoiled way. But he didn't care. His heart was sinking just at the sight of her arrival from the huge church doors, walking down the red blood-like carpet that was a contrast to the snow white of her dress. A bouquet of pink flowers was between her delicate hands with red manicure, her hair gleaming like a golden light around her rosy and delicate face._

_She smiled even more with her discreet lipstick, and her eyes shone with tears as she approached him._

_When her feet finally reached the altar, and finally was beside him, he, for a few brief seconds, pressed his long and hot fingers around her flushed face. Her smile widened even more._

Rogue shifted in her bed. She woke up, but went back to sleep right away without even opening her eyes.

She returned to have the same dream, only this no longer seemed a souvenir.

It was the same scene, the same thought. But now, it was looking like a souvenir in the form of dreams. As if its owner had dreamed it.

_He quickly pulled his hand on her delicate and pink cheek. Her smile was radiant, but the atmosphere was full of a feeling that wasn't there before: heavy, and full of guilt._

_He expressed his sadness ... his concern, his fear, and even his own insecurity. And when he touched her skin it wasn't giving him the same effect as before._

_For a few moments, everything was like that, until the church where they were started to fog up completely, and that face in front of him was the last thing to disappear from his view. He was immersed in the white for a fast time. But even so, he noticed, the heavy atmosphere had vanished._

_Now he realized where he was, laying on a bed with white sheets and pillows. He couldn't see the room because he was under another cream colored blanket, but he knew the place was well lit by the bright and warm light going through the fabric._

_His hand, however, kept stroking a white face. But it was not the same face as before. Instead of meeting two large and expressive eyes, he faced a pair of eyes way more expressive, green, resembling emeralds because of the light. Her face was paler, without any rosy smudge on its cheeks. In their place, freckles, which were visible only up close, just like he was now._

_Her face had strong and flashy features. It was clean and beautiful as it has ever been._

_His fingers gently caressed her face, cold, but comfortable and fuzzy. She looked at him with her green eyes, glowing even more intense than those other eyes. Her full lips, with no lipstick, showed its natural color, red. And he passed his fingers all over her face. The skin of her, wearing only a tank top and little shorts, body seemed translucent for much of it being exposed, and it almost camouflaged in the fair sheet._

_He realized that his mouth had smiled, because he felt the comfort of that moment._

_A lock of hair fell over the owner of those piercing green eyes' face, and he fondly withdrew it back to its place. Watching her hair only for a few seconds... two big stripes of it were an uncommonly white color, the other part was dark brown. But he loved it._

_He again turned his attention to those green eyes. And she continued to smile. Her mouth opened to say something…_

Rogue woke up completely. She stood sitting on her bed as soon as possible and began to pant, her face sweaty and hot.

_What the...?_ she thought. Her fingers searched for the glass of water on the nightstand beside her bed. She drank the water, now warm, and returned to lie in bed, trying to forget the thoughts of someone she had absorbed. Or was it a dream from this person? She couldn't remember exactly what happened. But she knew she had had someone else's dream... and she knew it had something to do with her.

Rogue turned to the other side, restless, staring at her bedroom window. She tried to close her eyes one... two... three times, but the sleep didn't come. She groaned and pulled the pillow from under her head and slammed it over her face.

Another sleepless night… having other people's nightmares _again_. And once again bearing the consequences that were _not_ hers. Walking with the guilt that was not hers, feeling things that were not her own... How she hated it.

She turned back to the nightstand, taking the pillow from her face and throwing it to the other end of the bed. She looked at the hour on her I-pod and growled again, fifty-five past five a.m. And even if she wanted to, she wouldn't get more sleep. She rose up in a jump throwing the covers away.

She went to the window and opened it, letting the breeze of the almost early morning hit her face. The sun was born, and she could see its first streaks of light appearing slowly, still showing that it would take twenty minutes, maybe a little longer for it to appear completely above the horizon. The clouds were scarce, and the air smelled of damp plants coming from the huge mansion property. She breathed deeply the fresh air and exhaled it quickly, as if motioning a dropout.

_Would it be madness if...?_ She shook her head, before her conscience could speak. She took off her pajamas as fast as she could, went to the corner of the pieces of clothes she always said she was going to throw away, because they were too dangerous for her to use, rolled the pile and took her dark mini short jeans. Then she ran to her wardrobe and pulled out from its drawer a pair of black tights and a blue shirt with long sleeves. She faced her clothes with doubt, but grunted again and continued to get dressed. She decided to wear black combat boots.

She wore her clothes in some minutes and looked in the mirror. She twisted her face and pulled up the sleeves of her blue shirt over her elbows and unbuttoned her shirt until the cut of her tank top appeared, looking a bit disheveled. She gave up on using her hair dryer, now that it would make a lot of noise, so she just let her hair stay in its natural curly way. They had grown up a bit now and passed her shoulders, which made her a little more comfortable on wearing low-cut shirts. But she is going to cut them, she just didn't know when. She ran her fingers through the curly stripes of hair, trying to make them look a little less messy. Then she ran into the bathroom, and wore a strong eyeliner and purple lipstick, as always. She just didn't feel like wearing the dark eye shadow, though, because she was lazy and wanted to get out of the room quickly.

She grabbed her backpack and put all the materials from school on it so she could go straight there. She walked down the aisle with the backpack slung on one shoulder and headphones on her ears with no music coming out. She would just turn up her I-Pod when she was away from the mansion.

Rogue walked out of the mansion, but hesitated when she looked into the garage with its door half open. Inside, there was a red painted motorcycle with yellow flames. Rogue sighed. How much she wanted to go out riding that motorcycle! But the effort to steal Wolverine's keys and then hear him yelling at her - shortly after he felt her scent on the seat of his machine – would not be worth it. Maybe if she picked up Piotr's, ops, Pete's bike... No, she shook her head. She would not do that. Pete was one of the little X-men she really respected to the point of not "borrowing" his bike.

Rogue sighed and walked to the gate. Rogue became increasingly certain that she needed to start saving money... and buy a bike.

She kept walking outside the mansion and began walking aimlessly through the city.

That wasn't something she used to do, but she could not sleep anymore, and she didn't want to wait till the time of going to school, in her bed. At least not this time...

She walked absently and continued to look to the people who went out to work at six in the morning. The movement of cars started to get more intense, and the shops started to open up.

Rogue walked to the city park. She sat on the bench and closed her eyes for a while, enjoying the calm of the place while she also enjoyed her music. She did not feel like doing a time. Finally, she hung her I-Pod and this gave time for her to think about what she had dreamed, trying to force herself to remember what was that dream. She knew for sure that the dream wasn't her. And was pretty sure she was in the middle of it. And had no doubt that the dream felt very good... to herself and to who dreamed of previously.

She could just remember a tanned hand touching her face, as if she were the person who touched herself. After that, the already short image stopped.

When she saw that it was a few minutes past seven a.m., which passed quickly, she got up from the bench and went to a coffee house near where she was.

It was a bit crowded, with several people asking for coffees frantically to get to work soon. Rogue sighed, and waited her turn. Not wanting to go to another coffee house nearby, knowing she would find them in the same situation. Besides the diner she uses to go was too far from where she was, and she might not have enough time to get to school on time.

She waited for a while for the line to reduce, afraid of bumping into someone. When she saw that, as she had suspected, the queue had not diminished, she decided to queue up too, pulling the sleeve of her shirt until the start of her gloves and buttoning her shirt until the last button, over her neck.

As she approached the counter, people squeezed themselves more and more and she almost thought about leaving, but finally managed to buy her strong coffee with a lot of sugar. She paid ASAP, and left the crowd, sighing again, and unbuttoning the collar of her shirt till the third button as before. It was seven plus forty a.m. already, she could go walking calmly to school and still have a few minutes before class begins.

She walked up to the glass door with her backpack over her right shoulder, sipping her sweetened coffee and selected a song on her I-Pod. She noticed, by her peripheral vision that someone was entering the cafeteria and waited until the person passed, without taking her eyes away from her I-Pod.

She waited a few seconds, but the person in front of her stood still, as if for some reason, he or she had decided to stop in the middle of the entrance.

Rogue finally took her eyes from the I-Pod, angry at whoever was disturbing her. She looked first to the ground, and met two motorcycle boots in front of her. She lifted her gaze to a pair of dark old jeans, a black shirt, a brown overcoat she knew very well and finally, two brown eyes with a red glow she knew even more. They seemed surprised at first, but quickly moved to the seductive way they always did when they looked at her... and at other women.

Rogue raised an eyebrow and waited for herself to ask what Gambit was doing there. Automatically, her heart started beating _a little_ faster, and she almost said nothing, surprised at the reaction of her body.

He was going to say something but she interrupted him, wanting to be the first to say something, "Wha' are y' doin' here?" she said it faster than normal, but she didn't care. She lowered the arm that was holding her coffee when she realized that it had stopped in the middle of its path to her mouth when she saw the Cajun.

He increased his half smile, a dimple deepening on his cheek. Gambit was finally without that piece of black cloth that covered his ears and most of his head. A few strands of his hair were over his eyes brown, but he didn't seem to care about it. His wavy hair seemed longer than when he wore the black fabric, and it looked like they hadn't seen a comb for a while, but that didn't hinder his appearance... it only made him look way more charming.

Rogue blinked a few times, trying to disguise her distraction. It seemed like hours had passed, but in fact it hadn't past two seconds after she spoke something to him.

"_Bonjuor,_ fo' y' too, _mon chère_!" he said, without noticing the rude way Rogue directed her words to him, but he noticed the way she winked and what that meant. He continued, "Gambit is the one who should ask; what are _you_ doing here?" He put hands in his overcoat pockets, and looked at her clothes for a second time, fixing his eyes absently over her legs, with a smirk.

Rogue nodded, for him to return her attention to her face, and that's what he did, expecting her to say something.

"_Ah_ asked first," she raised an eyebrow, being too stubborn...

"I came here t' have som' coffee," he shrugged and also tilted his head to one side, diverting his attention from Rogue's face for a fraction of seconds. But his eyes returned even before she could notice, and they shone with his perverted smile. "But I t'ink now Gambit will always come here," he commented, as if deducing Rogue always comes in the diner where they were. She seemed to realize what he meant.

"Ah don't usually come here and..." her eyes widened and she stopped in the middle of the sentence, looking at him. "And y' don't need t' know anything 'bout meh!" she exclaimed, dodging Gambit ASAP to leave the cafeteria.

But he grabbed her arm a few minutes after she walked away from the glass door.

"Here, here, _chère_!" Gambit said, as she turned to him.

She stared at him angrily; wanting him to let her go. But he just continued to talk with that grin and glowing red eyes. For a few seconds he looked at her belly, as if looking for something unusual, his eyes looked worried and he bit his lip. But when he saw that there was nothing wrong, as if he had been worried for nothing, his eyes seemed relieved and the pervert brightness returned on them, as they glared at Rogue's body in a completely different way.

Rogue raised an eyebrow in confusion for a moment, but got nervous again when the red glow in Gambit's eyes returned and he looked like he wanted to...

"Nice clothes, _chère_," he said, returning with a smile.

Rogue pulled the arm he was holding and stared at him defiantly. She was not tall like him. She wasn't higher than 5'75'', but he could easily _exceed _6'2, he was a little bit taller than Scott. But that did not intimidate her. She puffed out her chest.

Gambit realized how Rogue was defiantly looking at him and he smiled sarcastically. As if he liked the challenge, and the bully way she acted.

"Ya nevah change, don't ya, Swamp Rat?!" she exclaimed clenching her fists. He further broadened his smile and raised an eyebrow, amused with the way she spoke. Gambit wasn't very fond of this nickname, but he wouldn't show it to her. Moreover, the fact that she gives a rude nickname _just _for him proved that he bothers her more than anyone else does... and he knew he does in a good way…. at least for him.

Rogue was already thinking about talking something, even before he could, but then something caught her eye.

_His_ eyes.

So far, they were completely normal, two brown irises with white background. But gradually, a red glowing color began to take charge of his irises, like flames spreading through whatever was ahead. The before white part of his eyes began to be invaded by a huge black blur, which soon ended up with all the white in his eyes. The only thing that seemed to continue in his eyes was that intense spark that was the only real thing that exposed Gambit's feelings - when he wanted, or when he was off guard.

Gambit raised an eyebrow, curious at what she was looking at him with such intensity.

"What's wrong, _chère_?" he asked, "Can' take yo' eyes off Gambit?" he laughed.

She spent a few more moments looking at him with an intense glow in her eyes, and he was going to ask if she was okay, when Rogue finally said.

"How d' ya do that?" she frowned.

He did the same, curious. "_Excusez-moi, comme je le faisais quoi, chére?_"*

*Sorry, how do I do what, _chère_?

"Yo' eyes," she seemed really intrigued.

"Hm," he finally got it. He knew they had gone back to "normal", but he didn't think Rogue would be interested in that. Still, he seemed to like her curiosity. "I can change 'em... bu' only fo' a few minutes," he shrugged, putting his hands in the pockets of his overcoat.

When he was a preteen, he used to be angry for having such scary eyes. Some people hid it, but he could see the surprise in their eyes when they looked at him for the first time, how they looked afraid... Some didn't even hide the surprise, and the most exaggerated ones said he was possessed or something similar. For years, he spent hours staring at himself through glasses reflections, forcing his eyes to become normal. One day he miraculously succeeded, but only briefly, and that was the only part of his powers he could not completely control. For a time, he kept straining his eyes to look normal and hid himself when seeing that that demonic color was back. Until one day he got tired of his own shame... And no more hid them, because he learned to like them. And he learned not to care about the others or what they thought of his eyes... Whatever if they fucking thought he was a demon. He just forced his eyes when he didn't want others to realize he was a mutant to prevent fights – which were really rare situations.

Gambit felt uncomfortable, remembering other things about his childhood. He took a cigarette box inside his coat pocket, opened it, and put the cigarette in his mouth, while he returned the box to his pocket and grabbed a lighter.

Rogue just watched him with a raised eyebrow; her curiosity was gone when seeing the first signs of smoke coming from Gambit's mouth. As if Wolverine smoking when she was around wasn't enough... Not that she hated it, but its smoke made her eyes watering when it reached her face. She rolled her eyes.

Only then she realized he had done this because he wanted to divert his eyes from hers, as if he had suddenly remembered something not so pleasant. Even curious, she decided to leave. Being around him began to cause a strange effect on her, and this effect increased each time they met or even when she thought of him. It was in these moments that his personality tried to take care of her head. As if her mind had a weak point on Gambit and let itself surrender easily. God, how she _hated_ it!

She gave a dry laugh at him and said in a sharply sarcastic tone as she went away. "Well, enjoy your cigarette, _sugah_. Ah'm leaving before y' kill someone suffocated with all this smoke," she was exaggerating, since Logan's cigars were ten times worse than Gambit's cigarettes, but she wanted to criticize him, so she didn't care much about it.

He grabbed her arm again, and just said before she could get loose, "No' 'til I take my coffee, _chère_."

She raised an eyebrow, wondering what he meant, but he added quickly. "You'll make company fo' Gambit," he smirked with the cigarette hanging from his mouth.

"You wish, _Cajun_!" she commented as she tried to release herself, which made him hold her stronger, but without hurting her.

"It wasn't a request..." he spoke and then shrugged. "Besides, wha's the problem on havin' some coffee with Gambit? No' so ba', y' know? Gambit has a great sense o' humor."

She laughed at his conviction. For a few seconds, she considered having coffee with him, but soon convinced herself otherwise and then said something to go quickly away. "I think your coffee will have to wait, if you keep smoking like that..." she replied sarcastically, thinking that with this argument, he would let go. He didn't.

Instead, he took the cigarette that wasn't even half over from his mouth, threw him to the ground and stepped on it with his boot. "_Fait, peut-on maintenant?_"** he smiled and pulled her into the coffee house without waiting her to answer. This time, Rogue didn't stop him, knowing it was better to give up at once.

**Done, can we get in now?

The queue had not diminished, but it didn't stop Gambit, he his coat for Rogue to hold and joined the queue. Rogue decided to wait for him outside the huddle of people making their requests, while he bought his coffee. For some reason, she didn't move to leave when he did not seem to look at her. The Gothic girl waited for him near the glass door of the coffee house, the Cajun's overcoat hanging over her crossed arms, while one of her hands held her cup of coffee - now long forgotten – and one of her shoulders holding the two handles of her backpack.

She stared back at Gambit, absently, as he waited to be served. A girl next to him tried to pull a chat with him. Rogue bit her lip involuntarily. The girl beside him began to roll her hair around the index finger and looked at him in glance as he and she advanced in the queue, shifting her weight from one leg to the other.

She seemed to try asking something to him, and - even without being able to hear what the girl said to Gambit by far the queue was from her – Rogue didn't like it. She could have an idea of what the girl asked for him, just by the expression on her face. Rogue's eyes narrowed and she shifted her weight to the other leg, restless.

Gambit leaned into the girl's ear and then discreetly pointed to Rogue, with a wry smile. Her face changed completely in just a second - when she looked at the Gothic girl - from seductive for total disappointment and shame. She bit her lip and turned around, doing her best not to look further into Gambit.

The moment the girl leaned over the counter to order her coffee, still embarrassed and disappointed, Gambit turned to face Rogue with a big smile.

Rogue, for a moment, thought it was another of his perverted smiles, but she was wrong, and she contained herself not to show her surprise. Gambit expressed pure fun, and his smile seemed genuine. And that smile, Rogue could not help but react at. She gave him a half smile, forcing herself not to smile more. It was weak in his vision, but it was also genuine. When it was Gambit's turn to order coffee, he turned his attention from Rogue and turned from her.

The girl that flirted with Gambit walked as quickly as possible with her order in hands and stared at Rogue with a deadly glare before leaving the coffee house. Rogue shrugged and laughed at the girl in her head.

Rogue could not believe she was reacting that way. She liked it, but at the same time she hated to have a soft spot for someone who just wanted to put her as one more in a long list of "passionate with Gambit." She fixed her eyes on his back and got distracted. His arms were resting on the balcony and his left leg sustained his weight, making his hips to tilt in a charming and sexy way.

Rogue then noticed a volume in the back pocket of Gambit's jeans. It could only be a deck of cards... She tilted her head slightly and smiled without noticing, enjoying the views he was having, a half smile forming on her face as she watched the way Gambit's body made volume under his clothes. This time, it was Rogue who let out a perverted smile. She quickly shook her head.

Gambit returned a few minutes later from the queue, holding his strong coffee without sugar in one hand and a small paper bag in the other.

"_Fait,_" he said smiling as he took a sip of his coffee. Before he could pull his lips on the cup, he gave Rogue the paper bag.

She curiously opened it and found a chocolate cupcake. She hid a half smile and turned to face Gambit. "Ah could not like brownies, ya know that?" She asked playfully as she bit the chocolate cupcake. It had melted chocolate inside and it was warm, as if it had just come out of the oven. She chewed the muffin slowly while staring at Gambit.

He smiled at her, "I think dis was no' da case," Gambit took another sip of his coffee and offered it to her, "It's always a good accompaniment while eating cupcakes..."

"No thanks, Ah already have mahne," she raised her plastic cup with a now cold coffee. "Even though it cooled off a bit..." she commented as she drove her glass to take a sip of the cold coffee.

Before she could, Gambit took the glass from her hand, but didn't move his red eyes from her. Rogue looked at her plastic cup while it began to glow in a neon magenta color. The brightness disappeared in a few seconds and a small smoke came out from the plastic cup the orifice. Gambit returned it for Rogue and she felt the hot coffee again. She sipped her now hot and fresh coffee and smiled for Gambit smiled. "Thank you."

"Always a pleasure, _chère_," he replied as he took a few more sips from his own coffee. He gently placed his free hand on her waist and led Rogue out of the cafeteria coffee house leaving the place, while walking down the sidewalk.

Rogue at first didn't like the way he held her, more by reflex than anything else. In fact, she felt a comfortable warmth rise in her spine over the feel of the heat of Gambit's hands coming through the fabric of her blouse and reaching her skin. She ignored the welfare she was feeling and kept walking, while talking to Gambit.

And he was not lying when he said he had a great sense of humor. He had a sarcastic way of commenting over things that closely resembled hers, which made it even easier to laugh. Rogue tried to hide her laughter, but she couldn't help smiling at him.

At some point, he stared at her still nibbling her now half muffin and took it from her hand, taking a big bite of the cupcake.

Rogue raised an eyebrow at him and gave him a half smile.

"Ya could ask before ya go pickin' other people's things..." she commented.

Gambit returned the chocolate chip cookie for her, as he chewed the part that was in his mouth.

"Y' know dat Gambit is no' the type dat borrows t'ings," he said when he swallowed what was in his mouth. Gambit looked at her with his intense eyes and spoke again, "Besides, dis isn't just _yours_..."

She laughed and bit her cupcake. Another warm feeling went through her skin as she nibbled on the part Gambit's lips had been just a few moments ago. Again she ignored the feeling, but couldn't help but smile a little more than normal. Gambit realized.

"Looks like y' liked dis muffin a lot," he said with his half smile. Rogue ignored him, and laughed.

For a few moments they were silent while they drank the rest of their coffees and walked slowly down the street, without any hurry, enjoying each other's presence.

"So," Rogue said throwing her now empty plastic cup and the paper bag in a dumpster nearby. "Wha' did ya say for that girl get so dull?" she seemed genuinely curious, but said it in a way that appeared to be a random and unimportant question.

Gambit laughed and threw his plastic cup in the trash too. "She asked if Gambit was waiting in da line and I said yes," he shrugged.

"Didn't look like she asked _only_ that," she commented low, but not enough to make Gambit not hear. He gave her a half smile.

_Jealous?_ he thought to himself. He even thought to ask her this, but decided to let it go. They were having a good time together, and he didn't want to make her nervous and make her go away.

"She also asked if I was alone and if Gambit didn't want stay wit' her," he shrugged again, and continued after Rogue did her best to not bite her lip. "But Gambit said he didn't want to because he was wit' you." Rogue stared at him from the corner of her eye. He really should have said that... but in other words.

She tried to hide her satisfaction and Gambit once more realized and decided to take advantage to advance. He moved his arm again around her waist and coiled his fingers on the belt tissue of Rogue's shorts.

They stopped walking, and Rogue looked at him, scared and with a menacing look. But he knew it was just a reaction to the way he was acting toward her, so he kept going straight. "Y' know dat Gambit wouldn't trade anyt'ing fo' yo' company, _non_?"

He wrapped his other arm over Rogue's belly and stuck her in a bear hug. Rogue just stared at him as if not believing how Gambit never changed.

"Ya can't go _a_ day without tryin' to seduce someone?" she asked, putting a hand over his chest to push him away, her body getting warmer.

"It's hard to do dat when you're around," he returned with a smirk, his gaze showing how much he was telling the truth.

Rogue grunted in indignation. She wasn't liking the situation because she was actually _liking_ it. She liked the way Gambit spoke, the way his eyes sparkled when he saw her, the way - even if the situations are rare - he held her in a so confident and so masculine way. But the part that spoiled all these feelings was the fact that he had done this with many other women ... she was just a challenge. Rogue never thought she would want to be seen in a different way... by _Gambit_. And she found it ridiculous.

The Gothic girl walked away, but she knew the Gambit followed her behind. It was then that the penny dropped...

She looked at her I-Pod and growled again, this time with a tone of frustration. Gambit went to her side and asked, startled, "What?"

Rogue looked at him angrily and walked faster, almost to the point of running. "It's twenty _past_ eight! Ah'll be late because of _you_!" she said supporting the straps of her backpack over her shoulders and throwing Gambit's coat back to him.

"The delay was worth it," Gambit said with a shrug and watching her without running.

"Not when ya can lose your tests subjects!" she said without looking at him. She stopped in the traffic, waiting impatiently for the pedestrian signal turns green, while tapping her foot on the sidewalk.

"D' y' want a ride?" Gambit asked calmly with a smile of amusement.

Rogue looked at him, doubtful, but her haste spoke louder. "What kind of ride?" she asked.

"On a motorcycle," he said bluntly. Rogue's eyes seemed dubious, but she took it, leaving in the towel because she could lose the signal. The two returned to the coffee house as fast as they could and there it was Gambit's bike a few feet away from the coffee house.

He sat on the bike and handed his helmet to Rogue. She grimaced, but put him and sat on the back of the bike.

"Hold tight," he told her what she had expected.

Rogue placed her gloved hands on the sides of the seat and raised an eyebrow at Gambit, who was staring out from the corner of his eye.

"Ah'm holding on, Swamp Rat." Rogue argued, lowering her helmet visor and waiting for Gambit to start the bike.

Gambit sighed and started the bike on, not wanting to argue anymore.

The bike went on high speed for Rogue's School, but she didn't put her hands around Gambit's waist even for a moment.

When they arrived in front of the school, Rogue quickly dropped from the bike and handed Gambit the helmet.

The two were holding it for a while without saying anything. Rogue felt uncomfortable with the way he looked at her. He was full of desire, but at the same time he seemed ... satisfied.

He gave her his half smile and Rogue tried to smile too, with her chest uncomfortable. "Thanks for the ride," she finally managed to say and Gambit's smile increased a little more.

Gambit then grabbed her arm and pulled Rogue closer, and as soon as he could, pulled his lips over her head, without making contact with her skin.

She stared at him again for a few moments, trying to say he should not have done that, that it was dangerous. But she could not, because she wanted it.

"Have a good class, _chère_," Gambit said, finally letting her go as he put the helmet.

Rogue could not help but give him a half smile. Then she walked away, and looked back only once to see that he had accelerated his motorcycle and left already. Right now, she could no longer hold herself and her smile widened even more. Her eyes sparkled and she entered the school before she delayed, with her heart beating stronger, as if it had finally given up.


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello! **

**So, I've recieved some comments about the fic, saying that I should writte a little bit more long chapters... And I considered doing it. So I hope you all enjoy this little chapter because the other ones are going to be completely BIGGER than these ones! And feel free to talk about what you think about the fic - if they are constructive reviews, of course - and I'll try to consider them! 3**

Chapter 7

"Where _were_ you?" Kurt said escorting Rogue until her next classroom.

Soon after having a "ride", Rogue got into the classroom two minutes before the bell rang, and when her first class ended she just realized that her phone had ten missed calls, six from Kurt and four from Kitty. Not counting the three messages from Jean and Kitty asking if she was okay. It wasn't Rogue's fault if she had left her cell phone on vibrate call... not completely.

"Ah told ya, Kurt," she said rolling her eyes. "Ah'm _fine_, just left early, nothing more."

Kurt didn't seem entirely convinced. Since Rogue got injured in the last match, Kurt was suspicious every time she spoke she was okay. Like he still expected she would complain of pain, or something. And again Rogue would say she was fine, that Logan's powers worked and she had nothing hurting because she was completely healed.

"You sure you're okay?" he asked, still unsure. Rogue rolled her eyes again, tired of explaining and tired of comforting her stepbrother.

"_Yes, _Ah'm sure, Kurt. Can't ya just _stop_ asking meh that? Since the fight with Juggernaut ya don't stop to ask meh the_ same thing_! "

Kurt shrugged, "I worry about my sister," he said calm.

Rogue raised an eyebrow and turned to walk. The two sat in silence until Kurt asked again, "But are you sure you're okay, right? I mean, don't you remember anything else vat happened? "

Rogue glared at him with her eyes, but Kurt's eyes changed. They were bright with curiosity and anxiety. As if he knew something she didn't.

She averted her gaze.

She remembered having been thrown into a street that crossed the Avenue, seeing Gambit leaving Kurt unconscious... Duncan trying to shoot Gambit, and she was shot in his place. After that, she only remembered the pain, and being semi-awake, until the pain stopped and she woke up completely healed in the infirmary of the mansion. She didn't know what had happened in the meantime she had been hit until she woke up. Kitty told her that Kurt was the one who brought her up to Wolverine for her to absorb his regenerative powers, but Kurt didn't tell any other kind of detail to Kitty or the others. And Gambit...

Maybe he had fled as soon as Kurt approached... She couldn't remember...

"Why d' ya wanna know that, Kurt?" she asked, this time it was her who was completely suspicious of Kurt.

His foster brother raised his hands in defense. "I just want to know; maybe you have seen vo shot you!"

Rogue closed her eyes impatient and tired of Kurt's badly made excuses. After the Juggernaut incident, and when Rogue once awakened and was well enough to speak, Xavier, Logan McCoy, Kurt and Kitty - who were on the room at the time - asked Rogue if she remembered something. And the girl said at the same moment she noticed Duncan and his friends, but they shot her, she had no need to go into details, and the others didn't seem to have realized she had lied, because somehow she didn't. She only gave few details. A day later, the X-men gathered for Xavier to inform them that the police had found Duncan some hours after their battle, along with their friends and the weapons they used. What seemed strange was the fact that Duncan's friends were completely traumatized when found unconscious near a destroyed alley... afraid of anyone who approached, as if they were afraid of being attacked in any moment. The most curious was that their hands and feet were tied... Xavier also pointed the reason the Acolytes joined Juggernaut: that Magneto willed to call him on joining the group, to substitute Piotr, and his idea of gaining the mutant's confidence was by giving him a hand.

"Ah told ya a hundred times it was Duncan! You were there when Ah told the _Professor_, _and_ Logan _and_ McCoy! It seems that y're the one who knows something _Ah_ don't know! "she said just for Kurt to leave her alone. What she thought that had happened was that Kurt had seen outside Gambit and a wounded Rogue a few feet away... which certainly wasn't a good impression. Gambit must have fled before Kurt could follow him, and that's it. After that - as Kitty said - Kurt took her to Wolverine and she finally slept.

Kurt looked away and bit her lip, avoiding Rogue's eyes. But the Gothic girl, even if feeling suspicious, decided to let it go, thinking it wasn't really important, because if it was, Kurt surely would have warned Professor Xavier.

"Hey!" Kitty suddenly appeared. She pushed Kurt slightly behind and he laughed, pushing her too. Rogue stood for a few moments, but continued walking when the two got distracted with their childish fight. She walked to the classroom, and when she was about to enter it, Kitty appeared without Kurt's signal.

"Rogue," Kitty said as her friend sat in the last desk near the window. Her green eyes, pale because of her heavy makeup color, accompanied the mutant with suspicion in her eyes. "What happened? You were, like, gone all morning! " she asked, worried, but excited for some other reason.

Rogue shrugged, "Ah said Ah left early. "

Kitty bit her lip, "Could you just leave a note the next time? Seriously, Wolverine freaked out when he saw that Kurt was looking for you. It seemed like that time you were kidnapped by Ga... "she stopped in mid-sentence. Mentioning the Cajun made Kitty automatically remember about Tabitha and she what said a few months ago.

Rogue raised an eyebrow, wondering why Kitty had stopped talking. But before she could ask any thing, Kitty had changed the subject quickly, realizing her friend's distrust. "Do you remember the spring ball that will that's gonna happen this Friday, don't you?" she asked randomly. Rogue looked around, as if discouraged by the conversation, and then turned her attention to her friend, saying yes with a nod. That's the reason Kitty was so excited... The girls of the Institute didn't stop talking about it since _before_ the spring started...

Kitty smiled and her eyes twinkled. She pulled several pieces of paper from her pocket. Rogue looked at them and saw that they were spring ball tickets. She rolled her eyes, but wondered how Kitty got so many tickets. "I, Tabitha and Amara got some extra tickets, because of that whole thing of cupids and all... I didn't get it right, but we won. "

"Hm," Rogue replied trying to look interested in the subject, for Kitty, but she couldn't get excited.

Kitty didn't care, just continued. "I managed to convince Scott and Jean to go, even though they are alumni, I still think they can get in, I also called Kurt and Amanda!"

"Hm," Rogue spoke again, wanting to concentrate on something else. Her chest pressed hard when she knew Scott and Jean were going... but whatever. She would not even go anyway.

"So... now that almost all X-men are going, since Roberto drew Rahne, Ray drew Jumb…"

"Just _spill_ it, Kitty!" Rogue said, already tired of all the bullshit the girl was saying, wondering what she wanted.

"Ok, ok. I overreacted... Well, but what I mean is that since almost all the X-men will go... I bought one for you," she threw a ticket over Rogue's table and Rogue stared, uncertain and dissatisfied.

"Ah won't go to the spring dance," she said, before Kitty could say anything.

Her face stopped smiling altogether. "But everyone is coming and..."

"Kitty, Ah appreciate ya've bought one ticket for meh, but Ah won't go. Ya know Ah don't like dances or anywhere crowded with people affected by music."

Kitty knew that. She knew Rogue didn't _really_ like it, she knew that she was afraid to put her friends in danger, but also knew she preferred it that way. And yet, Kitty didn't want her friend to stay locked in the mansion the whole night, while the rest of the students were in school the ball having fun. It was so... wrong; at least she would try to convince Rogue otherwise.

Kitty sighed, giving up. "Okay," she said, looking out the window for a while, but then returning her gaze to Rogue sitting in her chair. "But think about it okay? You can also have fun..."

Rogue looked at her and smiled in response to Kitty's concern, happy to have a friend like her, even though sometimes she was too impulsive. She agreed with a slight movement of the head and Kitty returned with a much bigger smile, as if she had achieved at least something. "Ok, ok ... I kinda have to go to my class now! See ya later! "and she hurried out of the classroom to go to her own. Still, Rogue could see her friend's happiness. But that didn't make her change her mind.

She sighed and put the ticket in the pocket of her shorts... Maybe she would give it to Jaime...

* * *

His intense eyes searched for what he wanted. It was easy… behind a picture with the painting of the householder. The room was completely dark for the night and unoccupied, full of traditional objects and somewhat exaggerated, giving the idea of a fine house of the twentieth century.

He walked without making a fuss over the measly linoleum floor covered by a tapestry full of details. His long and skillful fingers withdrew the picture with the man wearing glasses painting which looked somber and dark thanks to the threat of rain from outside the porch that had been opened by the intruder.

After placing the frame on the floor, he fumbled the wall and poked his fingers on it while he touched his ears for better hearing. He smiled when he heard a hollow noise coming out of the wall; and he fumbled it again until he found the edge of a very well hidden wood, which served as a faux finish. He took the wood, pulling it slowly with his fingers and put it on the picture against the wall.

A black door of a safe, a little smaller than the massive frame before hanging over the wall, could be seen. In its corner, a small discrete keyboard with numbers was embedded in the metal door.

He laughed... His gloved fingers quickly fumbled ten numbers he memorized in twenty seconds at the keyboard. A small little light above the keyboard changed from a faint matte yellow to a vivid green color, and the door made a _click_ with a quick and sharp noise as if it had just been unlocked. A gleam of triumph went through his eyes. He opened the iron door and could not help enhance his smile. His large hands cleared the vault of the huge bundles of green paper with hundreds and fifties printed over their faces. The bundles were placed in strategic pockets of his clothes, made exactly for this kind of "situation".

Once he had finished emptying the safe, he closed its door and it did a _click_ at the same time the vivid green light came back to the faint matte yellow color. Then he put the fake ling over it and hung the frame on the wall again. He went to the porch and looked back into the room looking for something that seemed out of place... now he found nothing, which wasn't a surprise, the closed the doors of the porch and left at the night. The only noise that could be heard was the thunders in the background, signaling a rain.

* * *

Rogue's feet slowly walked absently at the mansion corridors; relieved by another week of school being over. For some reason, she was longing to ice cream, perhaps because of the hot day that had lasted till night. Even so, a storm threatened to fall... and threaten the spring dance. Storm could not help itself, because she would only return next week from her long trip from Africa. But Kitty didn't seem a little less daunting, and her animation hit all other mutants that were going to the spring ball, and Rogue did her best to avoid her, knowing that she would have to say something that wouldn't make Kitty very happy. Therefore, Rogue was all day out of the mansion. She ate out, did all the homework in the library and she even had had a walk in the Bayville park, but returned a little discouraged because she didn't run into a pair of red eyes. She tried to convince herself not to be so sad like that, but her involuntary part said otherwise.

Rogue continued to walk down the aisle, wanting to go to the kitchen to get her ice cream, but before she could even reach halfway, she ran into Kitty who had just phased a wall. Rogue jumped up, and Kitty realized her presence with a smile. Her hair was loose and well made, with curls at the ends and with a wick stuck in a rhinestone clip. Her face was with a good make up and it emphasized her blue eyes even more. She was wearing a dark blue tight dress with opaque fabric and thin straps, its hem went up just above her knees.

Her hands held a pair of high-heeled sandals.

"Rogue," Kitty said smiling and approaching her Gothic girl friend. "I've been, like, looking for you all day and..." she looked at her friend's clothes and began to express doubt. "Won't you get dressed? We're already goin' and..." she asked, but Rogue interrupted.

"Ah'm not goin', Kitty," she said as soon as she could, to get her friend to understand.

Kitty's face appeared sorrowful and the brightness of anxiety that once had been there was gone, her face bent down toward her shoeless feet. "Are you sure? We can still convince Jean to wait a little longer and..."

"Ah'm sure, Kitty," Rogue said, a part of her safety walking away from her face when she saw the genuine sadness of her mutant friend. "But Ah want ya to enjoy it," she added with a smile.

Kitty looked into Rogue's face and her eyes returned to shine a little. "I will..." she said.

"Seriously, Kitty, Ah really want ya to enjoy the spring ball," she put her gloved hand over Kitty's shoulder, and she finally seemed to recover all the excitement she had before.

Kitty smiled showing her teeth this time, and nodded. She opened her mouth to say something, but before she could, Pete came around, his big and muscular body in a jeans and a dark blue sleeveless shirt.

"Haven't anyone seen my...?" He began to ask whoever was close him, but then his eyes landed on Rogue and then Kitty.

His face got a redder tone and he bumped into a small table that stood in the hallway, the porcelain vase over it nearly falling to the ground, but Pete managed to catch it and put it back on its place. "Uh, Rogue... Kitty," he said as he tried to recover a bit from the rest of his pride, but without much success. "I-I..." his eyes fixed on Kitty for a while.

He eventually recovered and cleaned his throat, looking at the two girls as he approached. "I didn't see you two there."

"Hey, Pete," Kitty said smiling amiably at him. Rogue raised an eyebrow, but decided to keep quiet when she saw how the metal mutant's cheeks were still redder and how Kitty didn't seem to notice. "How do I look?" Kitty asked as she turned her tiny body for Pete to get a better view of her dress.

"You look... awesome, "he said with a sincere smile, putting a hand behind his neck.

Rogue put a hand over her mouth and made a laugh that could be confused with a cough. Kitty didn't notice, but Pete looked even more embarrassed.

"Are you sure? Don't you think I should hold my hair or..."

"I'm sure," he replied without hesitation.

Kitty smiled, and before she could say anything to Pete, Jean came running down the hall next to Amara. She wore her hair in a well done bun, wore a short and strapless green dress which highlighted her eyes, and high-heeled sandals, leaving her taller than usual, but still beautiful. For completeness, earrings that looked like two bright lines hanging from her ears and a makeup that accentuated her light eyes and her cheekbones.

Amara was wearing a short white dress with thick straps that made a beautiful contrast with her olive skin. She wore a pair of silver slippers and her hair was done in an embedded loose braid. Her brown eyes were even darker and expressive because of the light makeup.

"We're going," said Jean undergoing Kitty, Rogue and Pete without decreasing her speed, finishing placing her earrings, while Amara hastily put her necklace on.

"Gotta go!" Kitty said, turning to Rogue, "Don't wan' make Lance wait," said exited while she hastily buckled her sandals. Pete's expression seemed to lose a bit of its luster, but he tried to hide it so Kitty wouldn't notice, which was easy now that she had her back to him. She then turned to him and unconsciously gave a kiss on his cheek, standing on tiptoe to reach him in his face. "Bye, Pete, bye, Rogue," she ran down the hallway as she desperately tried to put her other sandal, until she disappeared, probably going to the garage with the other girls.

Rogue turned to attention to Colossus when Kitty was out of sight, but gave a slight smile when seeing her fellow X-Men seemed distracted as he looked at the last place Kitty was before vanishing.

He shook his head, blinking a few times, and saw Rogue's look for him. She was with one eyebrow raised and her hands were unconsciously over her hips.

"Have you seen my keys?" he asked, his cheeks turning reddish.

"In the living room," Rogue said, remembering seeing them on the middle table. "Goin' out?" She asked with a raised eyebrow, while Pete walked to the living room.

"Logan said he was going to a bar in town... I just decided to go with him," he went stomping the ground with his worn boots.

Rogue laughed. "Pete," she called him and he turned to her. "Try not to bump into anything, ok?" she said with a playful tone.

Pete smiled at her and walked away.

When he disappeared from the hallway, Rogue sighed and continued on her way to the kitchen, a little more relieved.

She filled a mug with ice cream and went to her room to change clothes. And it was then she thought: all the younger X-men were going to the spring ball... Piotr and Logan were going to a bar. Ororo hadn't returned from Africa yet...

She was all alone in the mansion. Well, except for Beast that was in the basement lab with Professor Xavier, again working on the outfits' design, which seemed to be not even close to its middle... But that was almost being alone. At the moment she found it odd given that it was very unusual to happen, but then she started to get used to this fact and decided to put the shortest sleeping clothes she had: a black tank top, a pair of shorts and green socks only. This for her was a big relief.

With her headphones at high volume, a cup full of ice cream and a spoon, Rogue went to the video room and turned on the TV. She turned off her I-Pod and started changing the channels randomly. She spent an hour just watching TV and finishing taking her ice flakes. When a film that caught her attention was finally over, she turned off the TV and went to the kitchen, her stomach still wanting to eat something, now that it didn't recognized ice cream as _real_ food... perhaps for the fact she hadn't had dinner... or for the fact that she was feeling homesick for southern spicy food.

The last time she had eaten a southern meal... was when she had _gone_ to the south. Or in other words, when she was kidnapped by Gambit and she ate one of the best Jambalayas she had ever eaten.

She also missed her city, the food, the accents, the hot and moist nights – moister than Bayville's summer days... and her routine when she had no powers...

She blinked a few times and went to her bedroom, it still was ten p.m., but she felt her eyes wanting to close. Before she could reach the hall of the girls' room, her eyes crossed the window that overlooked the front of the mansion and a part of the city. And even it was too much away to see in details, some colored lights blinked far away, and Rogue recognized that point as the school.

Her eyes were fixed on that point for a while and she was distracted, thinking how it would have been if she were there.

Without a pair...

Rogue sighed and closed her eyes for a moment, saying to herself that it wouldn't have been worth the penalty...

But her eyes were opened at the same moment she felt the impression that she was being watched, her green eyes going down to the trees of the mansion and then to the walls of the gate.

She could be delirious, but was almost sure she had seen a shadow hidden nearby.

For a few moments she was suspicious, but then left there when the shadow disappeared and mingled with the others. It should have been just a shadow from the branches...

Rogue turned to walk to her room and lay down on her bed, after brushing her teeth. Gradually, her eyes were closing, and she slept.

But again, many memories began to emerge and this time, they seemed more confused and more jumbled than usual.

Rogue awoke, gasping.

Another memory ... She sighed and reached for her glass of water on the nightstand. Her eyes stopped on the clock.

Midnight. Maybe she could still sleep ... The sound of rain invaded his ears.

She sipped her glass of water.

But it was sure that she wouldn't manage to sleep drinking only water.

She got up and went to the kitchen to get a glass of warm milk. The mansion was still empty, showing that no one had arrived yet. She went up the principal stairs after picking up her milk, but she got surprised at the sound of the front door being brutally opened almost cracking its glass. Rogue turned startled to see what happened...

Her body relaxed when she saw that it was only Kitty that had arrived, along with the rest of the X-men, but the concern came to her face when seeing Kitty's expression, and soon the other X-men' too.

Some, like Bobby and Sam, were laughing; others were tired - like Kurt, Jean and Scott – even though they seemed satisfied. But Kitty was the only one who seemed angry. Jubilee was behind her, apologizing for some reason, while Shadowcat climbed the stairs, passing near Rogue with her fists clenched.

"Did something happen?" Rogue asked Kitty, watching her only with the eyes.

Instead of answering, Kitty just grunted and continued up the stairs. Jubilee gave up on accompanying her X-partner and stopped on the first rungs of the stairs.

"What happened?" Rogue asked, looking at the others.

But Kitty finally replied. "Ask to _that_ one!" She said pointing to someone in the crowd of teens wearing party clothes.

"I already told you I'm sorry!," someone said from the X-men group, looking a little embarrassed.

Rogue looked where Kitty pointed, and her eyes widened at the sight of Forge between Scott and Ray, holding that device he created to reach other dimensions.

* * *

"Gambo!" Pyro said as he watched his partner coming in the huge hall of Magneto's headquarter.

Gambit came and threw himself into a metal chair closer, breathing deeply, and closed his eyes for a few seconds, the sounds of thunder and the crack of rainwater reaching his ears even with the huge metal coating base.

He opened his eyes and turned to Pyro, who was staring at him sitting behind a table, while scratching his nose with his gloved fingers.

"Ew, John," Gambit replied as he stood up and approached the table.

Pyro shrugged, lowered his hand and looked at Gambit, "So? Did it?"

Gambit smiled and took the wads of cash from his pockets, throwing them on the table. Pyro smiled his maniac way while riding his hands to the green papers. Before he could reach the money, Gambit grabbed his arm, and his blue eyes were to meet with red-eyed mutant, questioning the odd action of the friend.

"Not wit' those dirty gloves," Gambit said with a raised eyebrow and a contorted face.

Pyro rolled his eyes and pulled his blue gloves away, throwing them on the floor and picking up the wads of cash with his bare hands. "Uhuu!" He said throwing money up the air like carnival streamers. Gambit smiled, threw his pack of cards on the table, and sat back in his chair as he put his feet on the table and stared Pyro having fun with the green papers.

Even though it wasn't as difficult as he thought it would be, he was happy to get all that money.

"Half for me, half for you," Pyro said, more to himself than to Gambit. He began to separate the notes into two piles each with equal values, after joining the money.

The Cajun smiled as he watched his share increasing in size and consequently value. And also Pyro's. But he made a point of not getting everything for himself, now that it was the very Pyro who told him about the dirty money that Kelly had in his house... dirty at least for the mutants.

Pyro snooped in some of the files Magneto had as "top secret" and found some information about Kelly, and about the money he kept and later used to support new Anti-Mutant Organizations and sponsor the development of Power 8 - a drink that was a poison to those who had the mutation.

And, at the same moment that Pyro informed Gambit about Kelly and the money he kept at his mansion just like all good rich did - instead of saving it in an account at a bank -, Gambit planned to rob him. And like always, he got what he wanted. And Pyro deserved a part too.

Still, Gambit didn't care much his friend's calculation as he separated the amount of money, first because he knew he wouldn't steal a penny more from Gambit, and second, because he seemed incredibly distracted by other thoughts.

"Whew, Oi can finally buy my X-Box, and Oi think a few more things too" Pyro said when he finished separating the money and looked at Gambit. His smile faded, and he raised a redhead eyebrow when seeing that Gambit wasn't paying attention at him, nor at the money - which was very strange.

He sighed... It had been months since Gambit was like that. He seemed so distracted that Pyro could steal the cards from his pocket without Gambit realizing himself...

For a few moments, the two mutants were silent, Gambit deep in his thoughts and Pyro staring at him with a mischievous expression on his face - like when the younger brother was about to do something with the elder. He leaned forward until his chest touched the edge of the table and slowly moved his hand toward the deck of cards on the other side, while Gambit didn't seem to notice.

Pyro always seemed absurdly curious about Gambit's cards. He was convinced that those packs letter were not common and always wondered what would happen if he put fire on them... and Gambit always retorted saying that there wasn't anybody crazier than Pyro, as he insisted that his cards hadn't anything different, but Pyro always insisted otherwise.

When the tip of his fingers reached the edge of the cards, Gambit's hand forcefully grabbed the redheaded teenager's wrist. He let out an involuntary cry and met again with two red eyes and intense staring.

"I told ya not to touch in my cards," said the Cajun with a threatening tone.

Pyro pulled his wrist and raised his hands in a defensive way. "Sorry, sorry!" he said justifying himself, "But it was the only way to get your attention! You didn't hear me talking before! "

Gambit didn't respond. He just kept his cards in his belt and then took his part of the money to count it, more to divert his attention from Pyro's look than anything else.

Pyro however, didn't give up. Just went on, "Oi'm serious, man. Since we fought the X-men for the first toime you've been get'ing stranger and stranger," he leaned with his hands behind his head, put his feet over the table and leaned his chair backwards.

Gambit took a cigarette and lit it. Pyro opened his eyes and stared at him for a few seconds before speaking again, "Ya took longer than usual, man. Oi've been thinking tha' y' got caught..." he paused for a moment," But Oi guess you've just gone to see that Mississippi shiela," Gambit looked at Pyro, his eyes unreadable as he exhaled the cigarette smoke through his nose.

He said nothing, just continued to devour his cigarette so he appeared calm. But Pyro didn't stop, not knowing whether he was affecting or not Gambit. "You've always seemed very distracted about her... Oi mean, you've always been loike that with women, but Oi think with her it's different. Man, Oi can even remember when she was being controlled by Apocalypse, remember? And then she stormed the base and left one by one unconscious and fo' us t' remember what had happened we went to see the recordings from the security cameras? It was so funny when she knocked ya, if you can call that a knockout ... Ya should have seen your face when you saw the part she kissed you! It was _so_ funny!" he laughed remembering the scene.

Gambit said nothing... just looked at Pyro with his neutral face, not amused at what he said, but looking thoughtful.

Pyro didn't know how true he was. Gambit actually remembers very well the time he was first knocked out by Rogue. Though he had to force his mind to recall that memory, the effort was worth it. And he remembered how, even if it was just for a few brief seconds, her lips were soft and seemed to fit so well in his. And before he could do anything, her powers emerged and he fell unconscious on the ground.

"But Oi have to admit it, that shiela has some amazing legs, she must surely work out, or run, or she must do both. Too bad she hoides it with all those weird clothes, but even so Oi would..."

"John..." Gambit said, still staring at him, his face neutral, but the glint in his eyes more intense than ever.

"What?" Pyro asked curiously.

"_Tais-toi ta gueule, sinon je le faire moi-même_..." Gambit said it with blazing French words.

Pyro raised an eyebrow, not understanding his friend's words.

"English please, not everyone speaks French!"

"Shut your fucking mouth up otherwise I'll do it myself..."

"Ok," Pyro said fast as he could when he understood how threatening Gambit directed his words to him. And when he saw that there was no joke in the eyes of his friend, decided to shut his mouth or then he would end up stuck in the middle of the table... again.

He was silent for a few minutes.

"But you should pay attention to her legs and..." before he could finish speaking, Gambit rose from his chair in a jump and approached Pyro, who already began to be alarmed, regretting not staying anything. He put his arms in front of his head and winced trying to protect himself, but was relieved to see that Gambit just went straight without even looking at Pyro.

The Australian accompanied the Cajun with his face, and when he realized that Gambit was going to the door leading to the corridor - probably going to his room - Pyro let out a sigh of relief and relaxed in his chair, his back facing the corridor door.

Before he could even think of something, the redheaded mutant felt a hand grabbing behind his head and then immediately his face encountered with the wooden table, crossing it, causing his neck got stuck in the hole of the table, and his face facing the ground.

Pyro tried to get out of the hole of the table, but in vain.

He then shouted at Gambit that finally seemed to get away. "You're crazy! Oi could have had a concussion! "

The Cajun shrugged even though Pyro couldn't even see and said, "So be careful of what you talk about..." and he disappeared down the hall, leaving Pyro desperate to get off the table.

"Okay, maybe Oi deserved it, but now will you help me out?" he waited in vain for an answer.

"Gambit?" he asked once more before realizing that he was alone in the room.

**Hey guys! Well, as you may have noticed, I support Piotr and Kitty... but I also really like Lancitty. Even so, in my opinion, Pete and Kitty always had a curious relationship in comics which made me get really involved with this couple. So, I'm apologizing to anyone who is a Lancitty fan - even if I put some parts of it, and still support this pairing in the fic - but my intention is to develop Kiotr, since the friendship they had, even in the cartoon, until the moment they start to really feel something different.**

**Now that I LOVE Lance, I still wanted to put some things that prove he is a good person, even with his relationship with Kitty not working too well. Again, sorry. But I hope you all enjoy.**

**THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR REVIEWING! 3 More please!**


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

**LoL. That's what happens when you love X-Men... and Pyro principally – you'll understand it when you read this chapter****.**

**As I said before, this Chap is huge and that's why it took me longer to post it. Sorry, I'm also passing through a terrible moment of tests – Physics and Chemistry – so I had to study.**

**And I'd also like to than a lot **_**commando666**_** for helping me to translate my texts! Seriously, I really thank you! 3 Also, you helped me with many other things 'bout the X-men for me to write better things in this fiction! This credit goes to you!**

**Music for you guys to listen:**

_**MISSISSIPPI QUEEN**_

_**by Mountain**_

_Mississippi Queen,_

_If you know what I mean_

_Mississippi Queen,_

_She taught me everything_

_Way down around Vicksburg,_

_Around Louisiana way_

_Lived a cajun lady,_

_Aboard the Mississippi Queen_

_You know she was a dancer_

_She moved better on wine …_

_While the rest of them dudes were'a gettin' their kicks,_

_Boy I beg your pardon, I was getting mine_

_Mississippi Queen,_

_If you know what I mean_

_Mississippi Queen,_

_She taught me everything_

_This lady she asked me,_

_If I would be her man_

_You know that I told her,_

_I'd do what I can_

_To keep her looking pretty_

_Buy her dresses that shine_

_While the rest of them dudes were making their bread_

_Boy I beg your pardon, I was losing mine!_

_You know she was a dancer_

_She moved better on wine …_

_While the rest of them dudes were making their bread_

_Boy I beg your pardon, I was losing mine !_

_Ohhhhhhh Mississippi Queen_

_~X~_

The reason for Kitty being so angry was actually a good reason.

What happened was that, like all well-worried scientist, Forge began calculating the possibilities of the extra dimensional holes that Kurt had unwittingly opened last year return to open and bring their "inhabitants" back. And, as he said, the odds were great, so he also calculated a likely time for the opening of the extra dimensional holes occur, which, according to Forge, should have happened on the same day of the Spring Ball. As Forge had predicted the appearance of the creatures a bit ahead of time", he didn't lose time on picking his extra dimensional device and run to Bayville High School.

But also great geniuses can make some mistakes.

Upon entering the school building, the first people he saw were Bobby, Jubilee and Ray - who were out of the gym - and then warned them of the situation. The three got desperate and broke into the gym, warning to the rest of the X-men what was happening. Everyone was attentive, but Lance didn't much like the idea when they warned Kitty and she said she would help, even though he decided to offer his help and seek for the rest of the supposed extra dimensional monsters over school. The ball was going up without anything strange happening. No monsters or any other attacks. At least until the end of the ball, when Jubilee - afraid of the monsters while looking for them in the dark corridors of the school along with Ray, Bobby and Amara - was startled by something approaching behind her and was soon shooting her fireworks, hitting that "thing".

What Jubilee didn't know was that the "thing" was Kitty, who ended up with her hair burnt...

The X-men returned without a fight and Kitty in a bad mood for the rest of the lost ball, blaming Forge for everything. And he repeatedly tried to apologize until he heard Professor Xavier's advice to leave, rest, and come back later to talk about the possible return of the creatures.

Rogue couldn't stop laughing because it wasn't every day she saw Kitty really angry, and with a piece of burnt hair. Even so, she decided to help her friend to cut that piece of hair so it did not get weird.

"I don't believe it!" Kitty said crossing her arms as Rogue cut the now burned tips of her hair. "Lance and I were enjoying the dance... and you don't know how!" she moved slightly on the stool she was sitting.

Rogue rolled her eyes, "Would you stop _quiet_, Kitty?" she said, afraid to miss the hair. As if it wasn't enough Rogue was feeling sleepy – now that it was almost one in the morning – to hinder some time to cut Kitty's hair...

"Sorry," Kitty said, and got silent on the bench.

For several minutes the two stood in complete silence which left Rogue suspicious that something was wrong. She waited for a few moments, to see if her friend would break the silence, but nothing happened.

Rogue discreetly sighed. She didn't like being the person that had this kind of conversation. She hated to talk about feelings that she suspected Kitty was feeling.

She decided not to ask anything. Maybe it wasn't anything all that... But when she saw the sparkle in Kitty's eyes through the mirror reflection that was in front of the two, Rogue was convinced otherwise.

She cleared her throat, took a deep breath and finally asked, "Is everything okay with you Kitty?"

Kitty, who was before facing the floor, looked up, and stared Rogue through the mirror, her bright blue eyes sought for the Rogue's green ones. But they avoided her gaze, staring at her friend's brown hair.

Kitty turned her face to the ground again, "It's everything all right, Rogue," she replied in a whisper. She herself didn't believe her own words. Her eyes flashed and Rogue saw it through the mirror, knowing that her friend lied.

The two returned to be silent, but Rogue had suspected that it would not last for long. Kitty's eyes had already demonstrated that... and the worst was that that tightness in her chest bothered Rogue, because she knew she was worrying about her friend.

"It doesn't seem that everything is fine," the Gothic said, still looking at Kitty's hair to see if it had more burned stripes somewhere.

Kitty shook her head forward again and Rogue was about to complain, but she stopped when she saw that her friend supported her face in her hands in a gesture of weakness. It was then that Kitty began to sob. And the sobs were so strong that her back rose and fell hard.

Rogue was scared for a moment and hated herself for having offered to cut Kitty's hair. If she hadn't, Jean for sure would have... which would be much better; because Kitty would be better comforted by her than by Rogue, since she was terrible for these types of occasions. And the discomfort in her chest got worse.

Rogue put the scissors down, and leaned in front of her friend, now putting her gloved hands on her thin girl friend's wrists.

"What happened?" she finally asked. Kitty looked at Rogue with her now red eyes and smudged makeup.

She sobbed some more and heavily pulled the air with her nose. "I-I don't know!" ahe looked away, throwing her hands to the sides and then resting her elbows on her knees. "It's just..." she closed and opened her eyes, "I'm feeling confused... and because of that, I feel like a fool!"

Rogue pursed her lips, "Confused?"

"Yeah..." she paused for a moment, but finally said, "Because of Lance."

Rogue's eyes widened, but quickly recovered. "He said something stupid again?" Rogue said. She was tired of the times the two fought. They liked each other, but sometimes it irritated. It was like a sort of Scott and Jean, only much more moody and childish.

"No!" Kitty defended him in the same instant, but then looked at the floor. "No... he did nothing," she muttered, then returned her gaze to Rogue's, determined to put out soon. "It's me! It's my fault! I... I don't... I can't do it anymore! I keep and keep fighting and fighting with him! And I am the one who always starts the fights! It's always me who cause them! " and she came back crying supporting her face over her hands. "In the dance, we fight for bullshit. He was talking about something and he got nervous when he saw I wasn't paying attention! And it was my fault!"

Rogue twisted her face. Lance always seemed very nervous, and Kitty didn't seem on wanting to get used to it. She had to understand it... and besides, by what Rogue had memories of Lance, he seemed to really care and like Kitty.

"Don't ya think y' are being too impulsive?"

Kitty looked up, startled. "How so?"

Rogue bit her lip, wanting badly that Jean was in her place. "What I mean is that Lance really likes you... everybody knows that... "

"Seriously?" she smiled.

"Seriously," Rogue nodded. "Besides, who have never fought? It seems like ya've never seen Scott and Jean's discussions..."

Kitty laughed and rolled her eyes when remembering one of the times that the couple quarreled and Jean pushed Scott's head in the direction of the pie that Ororo had just done. She apologized later, but Scott never forgot the episode and always avoided fighting with Jean in the kitchen.

"I think you're right," Kitty gave another laugh, and stopped sobbing.

Rogue smiled and stood up, relieved that it took less time than she thought. "Well, Ah guess the rest is up to ya," she said picking up her scissors from the floor and walked out of the bathroom from Kitty's bedroom. She remembered when they shared the same room. Until

Rogue got tired of having Kitty waking up in the middle of the night because of her nightmare cries and eventually asked to change rooms.

"Rogue," Kitty said from the bathroom. Rogue looked at her over her shoulder. "Thanks," she thanked more for the conversation than for the haircut.

The Goth also smiled and left the room.

* * *

Gambit awoke sweaty and panting. He looked around... he was in his room like in the dream.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and began to look at his bed, as if searching for something... or rather _someone_... someone that was there a few seconds ago, to make sure he was dreaming. And his face was saddened when seeing she really wasn't there. That it was just a dream that was becoming increasingly frequent.

The first time he dreamed about her she was lying beside him, staring at him... The second was already a bit further than just a touch. But the third – the one he just had...

He closed his eyes, as if trying to clear up what he had just dreamed, his fingers passing through from under her shirt, and she doing the same, drawing the line of his column with her fingertips. Her nails, even if short, brushing his skin and making him feel crawled... her green eyes staring at him with a strong glow and her lips smiling, and then, how her mouth fit in his so perfectly, and how he crawled even more when the tips of the strands of her hair tickled his skin.

Although it was just a dream, the feeling was very good. But she… she went beyond what he usually felt and even of what he usually wanted, and he knew that.

Gambit looked once more to the little empty space beside him, as if he still had hope to see her there.

Nothing.

The only thing that made him company was his blanket, tossed aside the moment he woke up, and the sound of the rain, the rain that came and went as the weeks passed.

He looked at the clock on his cell phone on the nightstand: three and a half after morning. He threw his head on the pillow, staring at the ceiling with his hands resting on his belly. He closed his eyes and went to sleep, hoping to dream again with her.

* * *

Rogue tucked a strand of white hair behind her ear as she walked whitish away from her school, after another counted day of school, the sound of thunder in the background threatening a new rain.

Even after Storm got back, the rain continued, probably because she was tired of traveling and nobody in the mansion, not even Kitty or Tabitha, had the courage to ask her to use her powers.

Luckily, there were only three more weeks for classes to finally be over, the spring ball was past. The downside: finals and... prom. As incredible as it seemed, Kitty also managed to get some tickets. Lance would be formed and he invited her to the prom, even with all the disagreements that they were having lately. Amara went with Jim, who had extra invitations and handed them to Amara, who delivered them to Kitty and Tabitha. As Kitty already was going to the prom, she delivered those she received for Amanda and Kurt, and again forced Jean and Scott to go, the two agreed, but warned it would be the last time they would go. Kitty also forced Tabitha to cede and deliver a ticket to Rogue, who again decided to keep quiet and say she wouldn't go in the last minute.

_Damn ball,_ Rogue thought as she walked through the city with the backpack on her shoulders. Folded with the weight of so many books she had picked up at the library.

That reminded her that should return some books and she went quietly until the library town, thanks for being able to give a good excuse to explain the cause she would arrive late when Logan asks. Even though he thought she was using the Institute's library, Rogue claimed that the city's Library had more books than the mansion's, but the real reason was that she didn't know anyone in the Bayville library and it made her more comfortable because nobody approached her way of a sudden like her partners did in the Institute.

When she arrived at the library to return the books, she decided to stay one more time to look for some books to study and sat at a table alone piling the books, notebooks and notes she had made from the classes.

Her mind seemed to be helping at the moment, since no personality tried to hinder her studies and she spent hours just reading at that table and emphasizing the main points. She ate a granola bar she had stored in her backpack for these types of occasions, but her stomach would complain later and she knew it. And when the feeling of weakness from hunger returned her body, Rogue decided to leave.

She took other borrowed books to continue studying later and left the library when the sun went down. She looked at the clock on her cell phone and decided to eat outside.

She sent a message for Kitty warning that she had been in the library, or else Logan would ask her where she was all day. Besides, Kitty was the one that suffered the most from Logan's irritations when Rogue wasn't around - since she was the one that most saw Rogue in the mansion – and, even getting upset over Kitty several times, Rogue didn't want to see her suffering the consequences for _her_ absence. Besides, Kitty was already trying to solve her own problems.

After playing out what she was feeling about Lance, Kitty followed Rogue's advice and left her insecurity that she was feeling about Lance aside. And at first they seemed to be doing well, but as the days passed - Rogue realized - Kitty seemed dispirited and nervous again. Her nails were all bitten and her eyes glistened as if her thoughts were far away. The only ones who could bring her back to reality were Kurt and Pete. Kurt, with his way of a always mischievous brother, started talking and distracted Kitty from their own thoughts. Pete, however, distracted her by just being by her side. At one of the dinners that the X-men were gathered, Pete sat beside Kitty - who seemed completely distracted as she looked at her still empty plate - and she came out of her trance just to see him at her side, giving him a smile and starting a conversation with Piotr.

Rogue had already noticed the way the two acted together, and she really thought their relationship would give more than just a friendship. She always knew that Lance was very fond of Kitty, but his rebellious ways and somewhat busy - even though he was a good person - had a controversial reaction with Kitty. It was true that opposites often attract, but that didn't mean there were no exceptions.

Rogue walked to the diner she liked to go, one of the only places in town that seemed to have spicier meals, which means, Southerner.

Upon arriving at the diner, the sky was completely dark. A bell tinkled above her when she opened the door.

Only a few people occupied the place, and a low music echoed in the background. Some waitresses passed by the place, putting more dishes the customers had demanded.

Rogue sat at the table next to the window and threw her backpack on the seat beside her. A waitress wrote down her request and came out to have the cook to prepare her dish. While the food wasn't ready, Rogue began playing with the salt shaker on the table, turning it with a finger and her head resting on the other hand, tired of the day.

She looked out the window and hoped that it rained only when she arrived at the mansion... She got so distracted in the library she completely forgot the heavy sky outside. Her eyes traveled from the cars passing outside the diner, and then the clouds in the sky that moved because of the wind that was getting stronger. Her mind was so deep in thoughts that she jumped when she felt something warm touching her gloved hand.

Her face turned toward her hand, which had now another hand above hers… a big one with fingerless gloves. She looked up and met those two red eyes, his well-known overcoat covering his tall, strong body wearing a pair of torn jeans and a red shirt.

"Why am Ah not surprised to find ya in here? Rogue said.

Gambit smiled with the two corners of his mouth this time, and without asking permission, sat down across from her.

"Maybe 'cause dey serve Jambalaya her'..." he said, shrugging his shoulders, while his elbows rested over the table and he leaned forward.

Rogue raised an eyebrow. "Have Ah told ya ya could sit here?" she asked automatically, already used to the fact of being rude to Gambit.

"No, but I also didn't ask fo' yo' permission," he replied, couldn't stop smiling.

Rogue rolled her eyes and looked around, wondering if her request would come soon.

Earlier, a good feeling invaded her body when Gambit approached, but then she remembered all the times he didn't show up and how much she was hoping to find his two red eyes, but nothing. It was as if, only when he felt like it, he would appear, as if it was just a hobby for when he was bored, and it made her be in a bad mood.

"Whah won't y' go steal someone innocen'?" she asked. Unfortunately, at the same time, the waitress appeared placing a plate of food in front of Rogue, and glared at her strangely. Rogue rolled her eyes, looked at her plate and took a bite of her food. Gambit just laughed at her and asked the waitress for a plate of Jambalaya. She smiled as she wrote down the order and Gambit winked at her.

Rogue realized and when the waitress walked away, she said tapping her fork over her plate in a loud noise. "There, ya found someone to play with! Whah don'tcha go after her? Looks like she liked it a lot."

Gambit raised an eyebrow at her, surprised with Rogue's behavior - at least thicker than usual. Moreover, he thought that the last time he had talked with her, he finally got rid of this barrier. But he started to think he was completely wrong. Wink at the waitress was his natural behavior, and Rogue knew that already. And it couldn't be even compared to the way he acted around her.

"Somet'ing happened, _chère_?" he asked, worried.

Rogue didn't look up from her plate, but she dared to face him in a challenging way just for a few seconds before returning her gaze to her food.

"Nothing happened, _Swamp Rat_," she replied, playing with her food.

Gambit didn't know what to say. She was really angry about something, and he was pretty sure it had to do with him.

A few minutes in silence later, the waitress finally appeared and placed the Jambalaya dish in front of him. She gave him a wink, but this time he ignored her because he was too distracted, looking at the Goth girl in front of him.

He took a bite and chewed his Jambalaya looking at Rogue, who didn't look off from her plate; yet, she had a glint of scowl in her look.

"If yo' anger could kill, Gambit's sure the whole world would be dead by now..." he said, staring at his plate.

Rogue glared at him, stopping to chew. She swallowed what was in her mouth and replied, "Who told ya Ah'm angry?"

Gambit looked at her with his red eyes, chewing. "_Gambit_ did," he said.

Rogue rolled her food, banging her fork over the plate with force.

Gambit laughed at the way she was nervous, and she realized his laughter. "Problem?" she asked.

"Gambit likes it when you get nervous," he said.

Rogue raised an eyebrow. "Ah bet you also like the way that waitress winks at ya. Whah don'tcha go there and see what else ya enjoy 'bout her and leave meh alone?" she said.

Gambit raised an eyebrow at her and stopped chewing at the same moment. Now he was sure she was angry because of him. She was jealous, that was true, but it didn't seem the real reason of her anger.

He bit another piece of his Jambalaya, but didn't feel its taste.

Rogue kept hitting the fork down her plate angrily, a part of her hated herself for being so harsh; the other part, the proud one, wouldn't let her anger go away so easily.

Gambit then pressed his hand over hers, causing her to stop moving the fork. She looked at him, ready to tell him to let it go, but got speechless when she got lost in his red eyes, its brightness couldn't be more striking.

Everything about him was striking, actually.

His reddish-brown hair falling down over his black and red eyes, his beard starting to grow, his thick chin, his tanned skin, which was a stark contrast over her translucent skin... his lips...

She turned back on facing him in the eyes, and felt comforted by them, even if they still transmitted curiosity mixed with concern. That caught her off-guard, but didn't make her less angry.

"I'd rather _you_," he said giving a half smile.

Rogue stopped chewing and swallowed the food, still staring at him. "Ya nevah give up, do ya?"

Gambit smiled and realized she wasn't calmer, but still continued. "It's hard t' give up on ya," he replied and turned his attention to the rest of his Jambalaya.

They ate their meals in silence and Gambit finished his plate first. Rogue seemed distracted, and avoided his gaze, which made her eat more slowly, as if she still had a little hope he would go away.

The same waitress picked up Gambit's dish, as if still expecting him to return his attention to her.

She picked up the Cajun dish, but he again did not look away from Rogue, even when she asked if he wanted something else.

He said no and she left without trying anything else.

Rogue gave a chuckle, feeling a bit of satisfaction, and Gambit realized.

He gave a half smile, but decided not to say anything, not wanting to annoy her. It seemed she was finally calming down; so he would wait a little bit more before saying something. He watched her eating, and after a while took a bunch of cards from the pocket of his coat and started playing solitaire over the table, distracted.

Rogue finished eating her plate and dropped it aside as she watched Gambit playing with his cards. What intrigued her was the fact he did not seem bored, just relaxed. She continued to watch him, and he was thoughtful as he looked for a place to put his Seven of Spades.

Rogue laughed, took the Seven of Spades from his hand and put it over an Eight of Hearts.

Gambit looked at her with a smile, and Rogue returned, but then returned her gaze to the cards.

"Y' know how t' play cards, chère?" he asked as he looked at his game.

"Only if ya consider stacking cards a game," she replied sarcastically, shrugging.

Gambit laughed and joined his cards.

He began to shuffle them, looking at Rogue with his half smile. He leaned back in his seat, relaxed, and continued to stare at her. Rogue felt uncomfortable, and looked at his cards. They glided from one hand to the other as if they were a white and purple blur.

"How about we do like dat..." Gambit started without taking his eyes off her, his half smile forming a dimple in his cheek. "If y' take any card from two decks you choose, Gambit will pay yo' plate and what y' feel like eating in this diner this night."

Rogue raised an eyebrow, "And if Ah lose, Ah'll pay ya what ya want in this diner."

"Non, you'll only pay fo' Gambit's Jambalaya and..." Rogue already became suspicious as he made a dramatic pause. "You'll have to answer Gambit one question."

She was silent for a moment, staring at him as if trying to understand what he wanted with that. "That's it?"

Gambit widened his smile, "It depends on what Gambit is asking you, chère," she thought for a few moments, but then he asked. "So? You'll do it or not?"

Rogue looked at him suspiciously. Gambit was much smarter. He risked too many shots, but often won. And yet he had the opportunity to cheat. But he wasn't like that, she knew. He only would do that when _he_ knew he was being cheated.

He just risks his luck.

If she doesn't agree, she would be showing herself a coward. But if she accepted it, she could lose and Gambit could ask anything from her. Anything...

"Okay," she finally said, shrugging.

His eyes shone with satisfaction, and he continued to shuffle the deck of cards. Rogue, however, took the deck from his hands and said, "Let meh do that, Cajun. Ah choose Hearts and Spades."

She began to shuffle the cards. That wasn't anything compared to the way Gambit did it, but no one was better than him in this subject. Still, he seemed to enjoy seeing Rogue shuffling his cards.

When she finished shuffling the pack, she left it over the table.

"Gonna take it, _chère_?" he asked, resting his elbows on the table. He raised an eyebrow and looked playful at her.

She smiled at him in a sarcastic way and put her fingers on the top card of the deck, taking it without Gambit seeing it. Rogue dropped her eyes to the card and then returned to face the Cajun with a smile.

She showed the card to him, "Queen of Spades, Cajun."

He, for some reason smiled and lowered his hand over the Queen card, putting his hand on hers. He looked at her and said, "Mississippi Queen."

Rogue raised an eyebrow and remembered a song with that same name. But she was sure it was not about the music he was talking about... Suddenly she remembered the card he gave for her...

"_Swamp Rat_," she said, trying to keep serious.

"_River Rat_," he said, but seemed to be enjoying himself more than anything else. Rogue raised an eyebrow at him but quickly replied, taking her hand from his before she began to turn red.

"That River Rat here will have a plate of fried chickens," she said leaning against the chair and looking at the menu stuck in the wall behind Gambit. She began to speak the names of the dishes she wanted. Her choices were based on their cost, not on the dishes.

The more expensive they were the better.

Gambit raised his eyebrow and looked back reading all the dishes she chose from the menu and then their prices. In the third number, he realized Rogue's intention and turned to her with a straight face.

"Yo' kiddin', right?" he didn't smile.

This time, it was Rogue that was having fun. "Not at all, Swamp Rat," she continued to look at the menu, looking for the most expensive desserts. Still, her eyes came across the name of a dish in especial, pecan pie.

How long didn't she have one?

"And a pecan pie for dessert," she finally finished, just waiting for the waitress to come to the table.

Gambit looked at the menu again, and noticed that the pie was the only dish she asked that wasn't the most expensive. Maybe because the only thing she wanted to eat for real was that pie.

The waitress came back ready to write down the request, but without looking at Gambit this time.

He prepared to say everything that Rogue had mentioned in the menu, but she stopped him and said, "A pecan pie and a coke," she gave her a polite smile and realized Gambit's look.

"And will you want something else?" the waitress asked for the Cajun, while finishing to note Rogue's request.

"No thanks," he replied again without taking his eyes off of Rogue's. What he wanted by now was a glass of his bourbon, but he was sure they didn't serve it in there…

As soon as the waitress walked away, Rogue was already saying, "Did ya really think Ah was going to ask all of that?" she laughed.

"Gambit suspected," he shrugged.

"Ah'm not found of taking advantage from the others," she said ironically.

"Was dat a hint?" he asked.

"Maybe," she replied, laughing.

"_Biene_, now dat it may not look like it, but Gambit isn't the type dat likes to take advantage from the others."

"No," she shrugged. "Only from their money."

This time it was he who shrugged, he didn't care to say he steals. For he only stole the necessary, or what was in excess – as in Kelly's case.

"Ah have a question," Rogue said suddenly. He looked at her, curious.

"Say it, _chère_."

She seemed embarrassed to ask, but spoke bluntly, "What d' ya do to earn money? I mean, you don't look like the type that pickpockets people's wallets every two minutes..."

He laughed, of course not. "I'm usually contracted," he said. "I don' pickpocket everyone who appears in front of me," he laughed some more.

Rogue raised an eyebrow. When they were in New Orleans; it didn't look like that. She remembered very well when the two were walking by in the Mardi Gras and Gambit hit the wallet of a poor man that happened to be only passing by. But she suspected he didn't do it all the time... Or maybe she was wrong.

Her order arrived and she stuck the fork in the piece of pie.

"So ya're some kind of mercenary?" she asked after swallowing the piece of pie.

Gambit shrugged and nodded, "Y' could say dat. Generally the wealthiest contract me," he said.

"Hm," Rogue arched her eyebrows, not much surprised. "Ya must get a lot from it."

He smiled, "Enough t' live well."

"And wealthy," she added, laughing in an ironic way.

"Y' can say like dat," he laughed too.

Rogue was more surprised with the fact he didn't seem to care in any moment on talking about theft. Perhaps he talked about it to everyone. Besides, everyone knew he is a thief.

"What kind of services d' ya do?" she continued, taking advantage of the way the conversation was going.

"Y' wanna kno' what Gambit usually steals?"

She agreed.

"Frames, usually, some ask me to take some jewelry, and even some things of personal value," he took his cards from the table and shuffled them, mostly for getting distracted then by anything else.

Talking to Rogue about it didn't bother him one bit. Perhaps because he knows she wouldn't go gossiping around about these types of things. Besides, she didn't seem to care much about it. Of course she would not do what he usually does, but she also doesn't judge anyone who does, at least not like the others. And that was what made him intrigued about her. The fact she sees people beyond their own actions. It was as if she herself understood what was going on in the others' minds, which was true in a way, now that her powers were pretty much like that; but still, she understood them even when she didn't use her powers...

He laughed when he remembered some personal items some riches told him to "get back".

"What?" Rogue asked as she placed her now empty plate aside.

"Not'ing important," he said, putting aside his thoughts.

"But it sounded funny," she said.

He looked at her and laughed, "Y' wouldn't believe in the kinds of objects a wealthy may ask you t' take."

She smiled absently, "Ah think Ah can, yes." Gambit stared at her for a moment as she looked thoughtful.

Her green eyes glowed, and were even nicer, perhaps because she wasn't wearing such heavy makeup.

And he remembered the many times he watched her from afar, without anyone noticing - and how it became increasingly frequent. In a few weeks ago from now, she was beginning to get dressed less gloomy. Her clothes were basically black and Goth-like, but they were starting to make Rogue looks way more beautiful, which didn't seem to be her intention a few months ago. It was as if she herself was starting to get over a revolted phase. Not that she would stop being rebel, it was an aspect of her own personality. But she was certainly getting more mature.

Rogue turned his eyes to Gambit and noticed his gaze.

At first she was frightened, and slowly feeling uncomfortable, but he didn't care whether she realized it or not, just continued to watch her.

Gambit smiled, and she did the same, a little nervous.

And the two were facing each other for a long time in that way, without one responding to another, but without bothering with it.

A flash of lightning flashed briefly outside and was followed by a scary sound of thunder.

Rogue jumped up and finally came out of her trance, remembering she was without an umbrella and should have gone a long time ago, and she still had a training session at the Danger Room... with Logan. She stood up placing her backpack over her shoulder and said, "Gotta go."

Gambit didn't stop her, but followed her after putting the money on the table. He followed Rogue getting outside the diner a few steps behind her. Her pace was getting faster, but not because of him.

Gambit began feeling raindrops spattering on his face, and slowly the sound of water droplets bouncing up and down over the cars started to get louder and louder.

When Rogue felt the dripping ice poke her body and face, she stopped and cursed the rain, "Shit! Shit!" she didn't care about getting wet, but now that she still had to do an entire training session, she didn't want to appear in the Danger Room with her hair in its natural state, uncombed and curled. Not counting the smeared makeup and how the floor of the mansion would be when she passed there - and how she would have to dry it later. And then there also was the problem of the library books in her backpack which could get wet.

Gambit chuckled, took off his overcoat and put it over his head. Then he went to Rogue and put another part of his overcoat over her head. Rogue stared at him, not liking his approaching. But as there was no other choice and he didn't seem like trying to touch her in a perverted way, she decided to accept the help. He offered to give her a ride again and the two went to where the bike was, but it seemed a bit far more distant than it was because of the rain.

At first, it was easy to avoid it, as it wasn't too strong, and her backpack was well protected.

"Ororo's powers would come in hand now," Rogue said as she laughed and looked in front of her.

"_Non_," Gambit said, as he also looked in front of him. "She wouldn't stop da rain jus' because of dat."

That was true. Storm doesn't stop the weather just because someone was going to get wet. She only used her powers for emergencies. She didn't like to interfere in something that already was predicted. But what left Rogue scared was the fact that Gambit said this with such certainty. Rogue looked at him, startled. "How d' ya know she's like that?"

He also stared at her with a smile and shrugged. "Long story, _chère_."

"Y' _knew_ her?" she asked even more curious. Ororo never seemed to speak with Gambit in an intimate way, which meant they didn't seem to be friends. But in the other hand, they never had a chance to talk to each other when the other X-Men were around; and besides, Storm always avoided him in fights, and when she was forced to fight with Gambit, she just walked him away.

"_Oui_," he replied. "We met years ago."

"Ya mean you're friends?" she raised an eyebrow. That _really_ made her curious.

"Kinda like dat," he said and blinked a few times as he looked forward. "Gambit 'elped her in a difficult time and she also helped 'im. I don' know exactly how t' explain the story, 'cause it's all a bit complicated. "

"Ya can try," she smiled and so did he.

His eyes were distracted on the way ahead and he was slow to respond, "Well, I t'ink at that time she had lost her memory and couldn't remember about your Professor or anyt'ing 'bout the X-men. I helped her for a while and also did she do the same for me. "

"Ya mean that one protected the other?"

"_Oui_," he said, then added. "Until Gambit heard about the X-men and took her there because of her powers, 'cause they were becoming increasingly difficult t' control. Dat's when I met your Professor and he told me her story. After a while, she regained her memory, wit' his help of course. "

Rogue watched him for a few minutes, wondering several things. He didn't express any feeling as he spoke, which made her get way more frustrated.

"But... ya didn't stay, just _she_ did," she said, although it seemed a question… a very obvious question.

Gambit smiled at her and said, "Non, Gambit didn't stay."

She raised an eyebrow. It means that Gambit knew the X-men a long time ago... What seemed way stranger was that Professor Xavier, much less Ororo, seemed to care about telling it to the others, maybe because Gambit never was mentioned before, and they never had the opportunity to talk about him; and also because he likes to go unnoticed.

Still, it was strange how Ororo seemed so reserved when referring to Gambit, even more so because the two had a bond of friendship. But, until that point, Gambit also had never mentioned this episode until Rogue asked him.

"Why have ya never mentioned that before?" she asked.

Gambit shrugged, "Y' never asked."

Rogue laughed. "As if Ah would know that, Cajun!" she exclaimed.

It was then when the rain worsened. The water drops got thicker and its frequency increased. The noise of cars passing by the Avenue was the only thing that stood out from the sound of water falling down over the ground. The only people who ventured themselves through the rain were those who had more resistant umbrellas, which wasn't Rogue and Gambit's case.

The two gave up and decided to stop walking and get under the awning of a nearby building. Some people also stood by under there, waiting for the rain to stop. Some talked on the phone saying that, because of the rain, they would be late for whatever they had to do. Others were cursing it. But there were still those who talked to each other for the time to go faster.

Rogue sprained her hair, which was a little damp. Her backpack was dry thanks to Gambit's overcoat and her face wasn't wet enough to smear her makeup, she looked at Gambit, who leaned against the wall of the building, and sprained his overcoat, some parts of his damp hair sticking over his forehead.

They stood in silence just listening to the rain and to the people complaining a few feet away. Rogue then remembered the training session and once again hated herself for leaving so late. And the worst part was that she had just finished eating and Logan's training sessions aren't used to be the easiest ones, she was sure she would regret on having eaten before training. How could she forget this kind of detail?

"Something wrong?" Gambit asked, noticing Rogue's expression.

She sighed and said, "Ah still have to go through a full training session," lying now wasn't worth it.

Gambit chuckled. Although the life of an X-man didn't look very easy, they didn't know what meant the word difficult. He remembered the sort of training he received. And it was the kind of "practice is the best training"... without simulations.

Rogue leaned her head against the wall and closed her eyes.

"Ah t'ink dis time y'll get rid of it," Gambit said.

Rogue laughed and replied, looking at him from the corner of her eye, "Not from Logan," and she closed her eyes again.

He laughed. Logan didn't seem one of the most "gentle" of the Institute. Actually, he must be the toughest of there... an equivalent of Sabretooth; only a bit more controlled.

"Well, he doesn't look the patient type," Gambit said. But he knew when it comes to Rogue, Logan had a weak point. He remembered well the time the X-Men went to New Orleans to bring Rogue back and Wolverine hit Gambit in a tree in the same moment he saw him close enough, and how Rogue just told him some little words and he at once let Gambit go. Even with his surly and impatient way, Logan was comprehensive towards Rogue, and he trusted her a lot.

Gambit looked thoughtful for a few seconds, but Rogue interrupted his thoughts, "Ya should have seen this week... Kurt had the great idea to teleport in the buff for the twentieth time during dinner, so he could achieve a salad platter, and Logan was so angry at him he threw the platter on his face..." Rogue laughed. Kurt was not hurt, of course, but he never did it again. But what was really funny was when Logan asked if Kurt" could now reach the platter". Nobody said anything, since they were no longer enduring Kurt suddenly teleporting on the chandelier during dinner. Only Ororo complained, thinking that Kurt could have been hurt, but inside, she laughed as well, along with Charles, Hank - that tried to hide their laughter with their hands - and the other X-men – that didn't make any kind of effort on hiding their laughter.

"Dat's not even compared t' what Pyro does," Gambit said after giving her a half smile. "Y' need t' see how he acts when he's under sugar influence."

Rogue raised an eyebrow, "Is it that bad as Kurt hangin' on a buff while you're _eating_?"

Gambit twisted his face, "The last time he did he made four or five fire bunnies and started to hop for hours..." his face contorted even more, and he interrupted Rogue before she could say it wasn't that bad, "...naked."

This time it was Rogue who twisted her face and said, "Well, ya can't discuss 'bout that."

Gambit chuckled, "At first 't was easy t' ignore, but when he decided t' make a replica of his own wit' his fire, ten times higher and wit' no clothes on, we had t' give him tranquilizers."

This time it was Rogue who laughed. And it wasn't in a sarcastic way. It showed pure fun. Her eyes sparkled.

Gambit also gave a genuine smile. He knew it was rare for her to give a smile like that, and he enjoyed the fact it was he who made her do such a thing. His eyes got distracted on her face, watching every tiny detail in it, her eyes now greener than ever - without that paleness because of that heavy makeup - her lips, her freckles, and her hair which by now was acquiring a wavy and rebellious shape.

For a few moments, Rogue hadn't noticed the way he stared at her. She just laughed, feeling good inside, even with the chill of her wet clothes making her shake of cold. It was then that she realized the way those two intense eyes were watching her. Filled with desire.

And she felt strange. At first it was uncomfortable, because nobody looked at her that way... or at least she didn't notice. The last one who looked at her like that was... Cody. And she remembered how those two lovely blue eyes watched her when he asked her for a dance...

But Gambit's, they were way more intense and with no sight of innocence.

Still, she felt comfortable with them. His conscious part told her to get away, but the unconscious one was too distracted with that vivid red color to hear the other one.

He raised his gloved hand and grabbed a few strands of her damp hair.

"Y' should leave it like dat mo' frequently," he said.

Rogue smiled in a silly way, just to show him she had heard what he said, her heart beating a little bit stronger, her mind wondering why he did this to her.

This feeling wasn't like the first time when they met… okay, she got speechless when she looked at him just like the first time, but Rogue suspected he had another kind of power, a hypnotic one, maybe. And that power wasn't what was influencing her right now.

This time it was different, _completely _different.

Rogue was so distracted she didn't even realize he was coming close, his chest lightly touching hers, making her stay between him and the building wall, his arms forming a barrier on her sides, and his hand turning back to her wet hair.

He started playing absently with her wavy locks of hair, and he put one by one behind her ear, without touching her skin even for a second.

Still, his expression was unreadable. Sure they showed desire, but still, they didn't show anything more than the superficial. It had _always_ been like that…

He was a perfect bluffer, a perfect misleading man. He did and showed what he wanted, without usually revealing the truth.

He tried to get closer again, tilting his head down.

Rogue could hear his breath and then she felt it brushing the unprotected part of her neck. A smell of cigarettes with perfume invaded her lungs.

_Maybe he won't try anything,_ the most naïve part of her mind said. Besides, he knew how her skin was dangerous. And she knew he was doing it just to annoy her. She knew he wouldn't go further than a simple approaching.

It was then she realized it wasn't the case.

He began approaching his lips on hers. Her heart started beating way faster; this time, not because of the way he made her feel, but because of his approaching, the fear of absorbing his head panicking her.

It had been about two months since she absorbed no one. Yet, she still had the nasty problem of not being able to control the emotions of those who already were in her head. He didn't need another dose of Gambit to reinforce what she already had in there.

And at the same moment, a rage went up her spine and she pushed him away.

Gambit stepped a few inches back, but lunged easily.

"Are you _crazy_?!" she said joining her eyebrows and closing her fists.

He smiled and shrugged. "What can Gambit do?"

Rogue growled in anger. She couldn't believe what he had just said. "Get away from meh, you moron!"

She grabbed her bag from the floor and placed it on her shoulders.

"Whoa, no need t' get so nervous," he said, starting to get nervous too. His pride talking louder, just like hers.

"_No_ need to get so _nervous_?! _You _started it! You could avoid all this if you weren't such a dumbass!"

This time it was he who lost his patience, "I don' kno' what y're talkin' about. A few seconds ago it didn' look like y' wasn't liking it!"

Rogue blushed, "Until you tried to _touch_ meh! Stay. Away. From._ Meh_!" she poked his chest with her forefinger in every word she said, between-teeth. "_No one_ touches meh! Much less _you_, Swamp Rat! "

Gambit now had no more control, his own ego wanting to defend himself. "I didn' want t' touch y' dat much, anyway," he said.

If it was someone else, it would sound like a lame excuse, in the same level when saying the dog ate his homework.

But the words came out from Gambit, and he said them in such a way they really looked real. He showed no weakness or insecurity when speaking. His tone sounded incredibly real and unaffected.

Rogue's eyes widened and it was she who let slip a hint of surprise. She hid it well, and if it was with someone else, he or she certainly wouldn't have noticed the glint of disappointment in her eyes. But it wasn't someone else... it was Gambit, and he gulped.

She did the same and said quickly, "Good, 'cause that's what Ah wanted from the _very_ beginning!" her tone also seemed unaffected by the last Cajun's sentence, but it wasn't as convincing as his was. Still, she managed to disguise it with all the anger she felt in the moment.

She tightened the straps of her backpack on her shoulders and walked by the awning to get away from Gambit. "Stay _away _from me, Cajun," and she went away, pushing whoever was in her way.

Some who heard the fight were staring at him from the corner of the eye, thinking things even though they couldn't understand exactly what happened. They just saw a girl ask the guy to leave her alone, like a couple's fight. And it was always the guy's fault.

Gambit didn't care about the glares in the beginning, so he just leaned against the building wall with his arms crossed, staring at the rain - his pride preventing him from going after Rogue. In the third look Gambit felt falling over where he was, he once again lost his patience and looked at every single person that glared at him, with a penetrating and menacing stare. And each one avoided his gaze at the same time, no more facing him by the simple fact they realized he was a mutant, and that only by his eyes, they could have an idea of what his powers could be.

When Rogue reached the end of the awning that protected her from the rain, with no sign of Gambit because of the mass of people, she decided to keep walking. She ran a hedge against another, getting less wet than she thought she would get.

But her thoughts moved around the owner of those red eyes. Her chest tightening with rage and her eyes burning. Still, no tears came... she was too proud and too stubborn for that. She kept walking, without much fear of the rain as before.

When she came near the mansion, she could no longer protect herself and she had to rush out to get to the mansion's door. Luckily, there still were twenty minutes before the training session started which gave her time to get changed, wash her face and make a hair ponytail.

And that's what she did. She ran to her room, avoiding everyone that appeared in her way, closed the door when she entered, threw her backpack - which was the only thing that didn't get wet, thanks to Rogue's efforts - and took her wet clothes off.

Once dried with a towel, she grabbed her X-man uniform and wore it as fast as she could. She looked in the mirror when she finished washing her face and holding her hair, and she thought it wasn't so bad. Then she ran to the basement to prepare herself for another training session.

Throughout the journey she made from the building until the mansion, she could not stop thinking about the fight. Although she still was angry, she could feel a pain in the chest invading her.

Upon arriving in the Danger Room, all the X-Men were already there, gathered in the center of the room, around Logan that was about to explain the "exercise".

When the door made a noise and he saw Rogue getting in, Logan soon joined his thick eyebrows and said while the Goth girl approached, "Thanks to one minute you're not late, Stripes. Be careful next time."

Everyone looked at her, realizing her presence, and Rogue felt disturbed, but soon recovered. She knew then that she would have to answer why she disappeared all day. She rolled her eyes in response to Logan's argument and went next to Kurt and Scott.

Logan began to explain the training they were going to have this time. The task was to split into two groups and run obstacles to achieve the desired target, which was a button on top of the wall of the Danger Room. Nothing too difficult, but everyone knew that, with Logan, things were never easy.

He divided the team into two groups: Scott, Kitty, Roberto, Rogue, Rahne, Amara, Bobby and Jaime, in which Scott was the leader, and Jean, Kurt, Ray, Tabitha, Jubilee and Sam, with Jean in leadership.

The teams were putting themselves in their respective positions Logan told them to stay as he went out the Training Room to operate the controls in the Control Room.

While the team was getting ready, Kitty went alongside Rogue and then asked, "Where _were_ you?"

"Ah sent a message saying Ah'd stay out all day, didn't Ah?" Rogue replied calm and deep in thought.

"Yes, but you took, like, _longer_ than I thought!"

"Ah also ate out, so it took me more time," she said in a jump.

Kitty raised an eyebrow at Rogue and said, "You _ate_ before _Logan_'s training session?"

Rogue sighed and said, showing that she had really made a mistake, "Ah _completely _forgot this detail!"

Kitty bit her lip and before she could speak, the room changed its scenario. It turned into a mountainous place. Each group was in a cliff of one rocky mountain that was miles above the ground.

The sky was blue, as in the day, and with few clouds, the air was dry.

"Hm, it can be nothing, but ... I'm not very fond of cliffs," Bobby said as he looked down, trying to calculate the distance between his body and the ground.

Scott warned everyone to focus on the mission and find the button. Jean, who was floating in the air near the cliff her team was, said, "There!"

She pointed to a mountain ahead both groups, higher than the one they were. It also was rocky and had a thin peak, looking almost like a skyscraper. And up there, almost at its end, it could be seen a red dot. The button.

"Oh, man!" Bobby said as he placed his hands on his head in a gesture of despair. "Doesn't Logan realize that, if we were this high from the ground, it'd be almost _impossible_ for us to breathe? Which means that all this training is _totally_ useless! "

"Scared, Ice_man_?" Scott asked, mocking him.

"Um, no, actually" Bobby said as he looked at Scott and then back to the miles-away ground. "I just do _not_ like to imagine myself in the same situation as the Coyote from Roadrunner..."

Rahne laughed and Jaime took advantage of the situation. He walked towardsBobby, who was distracted looking at the ground near the edge of the cliff, and hit the Iceman's back with his hand, causing Bobby to lose balance and move forward. "Oh, Bobby! Don't be afraid! "

"Ah! Wow, "Bobby desperately rolled his arms to gain balance and not to fall, which was too late. He staggered forward and fell in the direction of the mountain base. But, at the same moment, the mountain scenery was gone and Bobby faced with the cold floor of the Danger Room. "Ouch," he groaned rubbing his almost broken nose.

All were startled with the sudden change and looked up at the Control Room when Logan's voice came out from the speakers.

"Jaime," a nervous voice of Logan said. "Tomorrow, _early_, running around the mansion."

"What?!" Jaime complained.

"Wanna make it for _two_ days?"

Jaime got quiet. And Bobby, as he stood up, laughed.

"And no clones this time, kid," Logan said.

Jaime growled in anger and didn't try any other joke.

When Bobby finally stood up and growled at Jaime, Wolverine again changed the landscape back to the mountain scenery.

"Oh," he said before starting the session. "And the winning team will be able to leave ten minutes earlier the next training session."

The teams exchanged glances. And when Logan said, "Go!" the leaders made a quick plan and went desperately toward the ten-minutes-before target.

* * *

Rogue left the Danger Room panting, but didn't last on running to her room.

Her team won, which meant: leaving ten minutes before the next training, even though they almost didn't win because of a distraction from Roberto.

While both teams climbed the mountain, Roberto got distracted with a smile from Rahne, and unwittingly relied on a loose stone, so his hand landed on Jamie's face, who was right a little down at his side. Jaime accidentally made a clone that fell over Bobby, who was creating an ice bridge below. Bobby got unbalanced, but only didn't fell again because Rogue was able to hold him by his ankle.

Now that Bobby realized this only seconds later, he gave a sharp cry of despair, which caught the others X-men's attention, and they laughed, but quickly forgotten the episode when seeing Scott reaching and pressing the button, putting an end to the training session.

At the same moment the door opened and the X-men were discharged by Logan, Rogue was the first one to rush out of the room and go to her bedroom.

She leaned back on the door, once closed, and began gasping, trying desperately to control herself. In the middle of the climb, Sabretooth's mind began to emerge and instead of saving Bobby, she almost scratched him into pieces. Thanks to the noise of the button Scott had pressed almost the same moment, Rogue made it back to her senses and controlled herself. Luckily no one noticed, at least it seemed like that...

She stayed like that, sitting on the ground with her back touching the cold wooden door and her head and elbows resting over her knees, for a while.

Someone knocked on the door.

Rogue sighed once more before opening it slowly, looking through the small doorway to see who was it.

"Logan?" she asked frightened, opening the door fully.

Wolverine looked a little nervous, but his face also showed concern.

Rogue looked around, trying to understand why he was there. And when he said nothing, Rogue felt obliged to do so, "Uh, something wrong?" she asked.

Logan looked at her worried and finally said, "I saw what happened, Rogue."

Rogue was scared, but tried to disguise it. "Ah don't know what ya're talkin' about," she said after a while.

She knew she should have said the truth, but didn't want to worry Logan. Moreover, she was thinking about talking to the Professor. Every time her mind got more disturbed than usual, Rogue felt obliged to speak with him… tactfully. The bad thing was that every time this happened, the two spent two or _more_ hours doing mental therapy. And the results soothed only in parts.

"Don't lie to me, Stripes. I saw how you looked at Bobby just before the session ended, "he paused for a moment, but soon said, "Just like Creed."

Rogue looked at the floor for a long time, thinking of a good answer, but losing herself him her own fear.

Wolverine watched as her expression changed, and his face softened a little. He didn't like much the fact of having to talk about these kinds of things. But he knew it was necessary, to Rogue. He somehow understood her and knew it was best to talk to her.

Rogue sighed, not wanting to lie to Logan anymore. He would know it anyway...

"You did?" She said twisting her face.

Logan nodded and waited for her to speak anything else.

Now that she didn't say anything, it was he who broke the silence. "Look," he looked around, "I know you don't much like those therapy sessions with Xavier, but you should go talk to him, Stripes. He can't help you in _everything_, but he's really trying, and I know you have improved."

Rogue gave him a weak smile. That was true. She was improving, but only in the control over personalities. The part that concerned with her skin contact hadn't been altered in any way. Still, she knew it was best to continue to contact the Professor… for her own sanity. But she knew he only helped in part... the rest was with her.

"Ah _do_ know that, Logan," she said. "Ah'm already thinkin' on talking t' him, but Ah want to rest first and tomorrow morning Ah'll do it."

He smiled, but a part within him knew she would not. He knew her too well to believe it for sure.

"Ah promise," she said, noting the air of distrust in Logan's face.

He still didn't seem to believe in her, but decided not to force her.

He smiled again, nodding, and both knew the conversation was over. Neither of them liked to be in this kind of situation, but they knew it was necessary.

"Good, then I think my role here is done," Logan said

When he turned his back to leave, Rogue said his name. He turned his face and she said, "Thank ya… for looking out for meh," and she smiled.

He also smiled and said, "Night, Stripes."

She nodded and closed the door slowly.

* * *

"Hey, man," Pyro said when he saw Gambit coming from the corner of his eye.

The Australian was playing with his new X-box plugged into Magneto's monitor computer screen. His legs crossed over its controls, his arms moving frantically as his fingers were groping the joystick.

Pyro fully turned his face to the Cajun noticing the huge puddle of water on the floor he drew in the basement.

"Stay away from moi X-box," he said afraid of his video game having a short circuit.

Gambit rolled his eyes and walked over to a hole in the wall of the basement for dirty laundry. He took off his wet coat and threw it in the hole.

"Where have ya been all day, man?" Pyro asked, continuing to play in the X-Box. Gambit did not answer, just continued to take his wet shirt off. "Oi bet ya went t' see that hot, Oi mean, the Goth shiela..." Gambit remained silent, more thoughtful than usual. "Hey, that pendant ya bought a while ago... wasn't that for her? How much did y' spend on that? It seemed quoite expensive... Ya gave it to her? Cuz' Oi think..."

A noise of door closing tightly echoed through the hall and Pyro looked back.

He was alone again.

He turned his attention back to the screen and shrugged. "Seems loike a woman in period..."

Rogue changed the shower to the highest temperature level.

Her whitish body came slowly under the shower, burning her skin gradually; a red spot forming on her shoulders and chest. Her face flushed by the hot water vapor and her wet hair automatically sticking over her neck.

She breathed slowly, with her forehead resting against the cold wall, her white back now with a single large red spot. She closed her eyes and tried to focus only on the hot water flowing over her body.

For a time, this was the only feeling, until one more reminder invaded her mind, like an unwanted intruder.

And then, they all came once, together.

The first was of a pretty Japanese woman with a soft and gentle smile.

The image changed too fast for her to fix the memory on her head. The next picture was worst: a black atmosphere, an enclosed place with fire on one side and shattered empty plane chairs everywhere.

_The shrill noise of a turbine engine and of the plane motor resounded in his ear._

_His childish body was desperately holding on a random pedestal of the airplane, a horrible fear going through his head. A couple, both wearing glasses, were staring at him and then to a blond six or seven years old little boy at his side, his little brother._

_The couple gave him and the other boy two parachutes. He felt his eyes burn with tears when knowing what would happen next. He tried to open his mouth again, to try to say something, but the couple embraced him and then the younger boy._

_Like a goodbye._

_"We love you," their mother said in a low tone, but audible for both._

_He could no longer hold back the tears, but soon dried them up. He had to be strong for his brother now. He knew it._

_The two brothers went to the plane opening, which was once protected by an already lost door. It was amazing how slowly time was passing at that moment._

_He took another look at the two pairs of afflicted, yet loving, eyes of two people they loved._

_He held his brother's hand and soon after, they jumped from the airplane._

_._

_"We're brothers," the dark-blond boy said, looking into his eyes. His short and poorly cut hair was dirty. His brown eyes, though young, showed eagerness and ferocity._

_He shook the little boy in front of him, not much younger than him. His brown eyes had the same brightness, but they were warmer and more innocent than the blonde's. _

_The little boy looked startled at first, but the blond boy shook him again in a controlled way, "D' you understand? We're brothers, Jimmy. _Always_ remember that. "_

_._

_She smiled at him. Although it was weak, she smiled. They couldn't demonstrate much in that very moment._

_His scary eyes shone with desire, but she could see a glow of affection and love in them, although very well hidden. His face also couldn't contain a smile. Weak, but genuine._

_By far, the two faced each other. And his face showed a unique mystery. And she _saw_ it... at first she thought she was hallucinating, but later she realized she was _not_._

_He was like _her_._

_The image was very quick and he certainly hadn't seen her nearby. And when he finally thought he was alone, he simply _disappeared_, leaving behind a smoke that smelled like sulfur._

_And now there he was, at this formal party... acting like he was normal. Just like her. Pretending to be equal, but not being at all. And she knew... just knew that he wasn't like that. His face, his appearance... they didn't fit with his personality._

_And she also knew... she just knew he wasn't going away too soon, at least not from her mind, he would not._

_"Sweetheart," her husband said beside her, pulling her away from her trance. He pushed her gently until those mysterious eyes, and the black-haired man smiled, but this time in a polite way... persuasive way. "This is a friend of mine."_

_She also smiled politely as the man kissed the palm of her hand, yet acting discreet. She looked at her husband, waiting for him to finally tell her the name of his friend._

_._

_He looked at his sister. Still so small and so innocent._

_She looked at her hands with a smile and her blue eyes sparkled as she sat on the couch beside him._

_"What's wrong, _frère_? Y' seem so distracted dese days..." he asked. She was like that for a while._

_She smiled, her braces flashing over her white teeth. His sister took a while to say something, but when she did, it looked like she tried to contain her excitement, "I t'ink I made a friend, _mon frère_."_

_Her big blue eyes sparkled even more._

_._

_Her dream was very good... it was plain and ordinary, but she always dreamed of it._

_Her tiny body flew through the city at night. Even though she was only wearing her pajamas, she didn't care about it at the moment, because in her view the city was wonderful..._

_Until she started to fall and finally woke up._

_Her eyes instantly opened and she could still hear the echoes of her own scream through the house, her body shaking with fear as she looked around. She was home... but not in her room._

_Her parents ran down the stairs, hearing their daughter's cry._

_"Kitty?" it was her mother, running desperately for her daughter curled up on the floor. Her father was soon after her mother. "What happened? How did you...? "_

_She started crying while clutching her small hands in her mother's clothes, she leaned her head on her chest, scared. "I-I..." she tried to say between her sobs."I fell off the roof!" she let her tears fall. "I fell off the roof!"_

_._

_"Stay still," the soldier said as he held his long and thin arm with strength._

_He tried to hold his fear. He tried to hold the horrible feeling he felt while the man wrote those numbers on his arm. And that hurt._

_His lung was trying to breathe calmly, but his heart said otherwise._

_His mother was holding his hand, sending a message through her eyes, telling him to hold on. And that's what he did..._

_The two went out from the queue and followed the crowd. All wearing white bands tied around their arms... all with their forearms bleeding. Just as his was now._

_The rain was low and it was there just to discomfort them. That place had a gloomy air, and he was afraid, because he felt like he was entering in a huge cage._

_He tightly held his mother's hand. She looked at him and told him with a unique affection, even if it was also frightened. "Everything will be all right, my love."_

_He tried to smile and they kept walking. Until he tripped over something and got loose of his mother's hand, almost falling on the mud._

_Her tired eyes widened in horror when she saw him standing back and, before she could say anything, she was pushed by the flow of people walking against her direction._

_The soldiers pushed the crowd, including his mother. _

_Before he could reach her, two metal gates with barbed wire began to close, with his mother inside._

_"No," the woman screamed, trying to warn the guards, but they paid no attention. They just pushed her to keep walking, along with the mass of people with white scarves wrapped around their arms._

_He began calling for his mother, but as she walked away, he could only see star drawings._

_He ran to the gate to try to open it, but several men in uniforms held him from behind by his belly. _

_At first it was easy to drag the boy away from the gate. Even with him kicking and screaming with his hand trying to reach the point he was sure it was his mother. But for that, he needed to reach the gate._

_He gave up on begging for the guards for help and tried desperately to reach the metal gate._

_Until then, his anger, his fear, and especially his love for his mother made him want to reach that gate._

_He could not explain, and he didn't want to know what it was ... he just wanted his mother at his side again._

_The gate began to bend ... Several soldiers tried to hold him, but he didn't move back. In fact, he only approached as if a force was pulling him to that gate._

_Two more men tried to pull the boy away._

_He yelled some more, and the gate began to squirm harder, almost bursting the chains._

_He tried to reach it until the handle of a gun landed hard on his head and he was pulled back, falling to the ground, along with the soldiers._

_The gate stopped squirming._

_"ERIK!"_

Rogue felt her body hit something. Her back facing the cold opposite wall.

She flinched and began to breathe. Her head resting between her knees, her eyes closed and her short nails, bitten because of all the times she passed by a lack of control like now, began to jam into the skin of her shoulders, as if she tried to force herself to go back to reality.

She breathed lowlier, the water vapor warming her without her needing to go under the shower. She exhaled the warm air from the bathroom slowly and went back to the shower, ignoring all those memories.

At first it was difficult, but she managed to gain control and ended up finishing taking her bath without feeling anything stronger trying to control her mind.

She dried herself up after leaving the shower and wiped the steam from the mirror to see how she looked.

Her face was flushed and had no makeup at all. Her wet hair seemed longer than normal. Her eyes sparkled and were tired.

Why was she feeling this way?

She was doing it well... she was being able to control herself until now. But suddenly she dropped her guard and it was at that moment that all the minds she absorbed attacked her at once.

"Guess Ah'll _really_ have to speak to the Professor," she muttered to herself as she looked in the mirror. And for a few seconds...it wasn't her eyes she stared at through the mirror.

She could be wrong, but she knew she was not...

A red color was invading her irises, replacing all the green of her eyes. Two black spots started coming out the end of her irises and spread gradually throughout the white parts of her eyes.

When those spots occupied half of her eyes, she began to flash and put her head between her hands.

"_Non_," she whispered to herself. "No, no, _no_..." her fingers clamped tightly her wet scalp. "Please..." she said to herself... or to whatever that was trying to take control."Please, please..."

She breathed slowly a few more times and finally calmed down. She lifted her head to the mirror again and decided to open her eyes, though still feeling insecure.

Nothing... just two green irises.

She sighed with relief.

She had suspected that sooner or later he would try to occupy her mind. She was taking up for that to happen, actually.

She gave a sarcastic smile, "Ya took longer than Ah thought..." she said to his part that was in her mind.

She felt that that same part smiled at her.

"Stay _away_ from me, Swamp Rat," she answered ending her own dialogue.

She came out with a towel wrapped around her body and closed the bathroom door tightly, as if it was possible to lock him in there.

Rogue went to her wardrobe and put her pajamas on, ready to go to bed.

And once again, she sighed. This time, remembering once again the fight she had with Gambit.

And some part of her knew this made her more vulnerable... He always did this to her, and that was what made her nervous.

Gambit himself knew it, and that's why he knew how to annoy her, which made the game even more fun for him.

She took her hair dryer and used the bedroom mirror to dry her hair, not wanting to go to the bathroom anymore, as if she still believed Gambit could get out of there and invade her privacy, which wasn't true, since he invaded her mind when she lowered her guard...

"_Ah_ really _really_ need to talk to the Professor ..."

**-EXTRA-**

_A few months earlier - Valentine's Day_

"Hey, Kitty!" Tabitha said aloud.

Kitty turned in the same moment to the blonde mutant who handed her a red card. In her other hand, a basket full of cards to be delivered.

"Hm," Kitty said as she looked at the vivid-red card with great expectations. "Is it for me?"

"You bet," Tabitha said giving the card to Kitty, who opened it with a huge excitement on her face. "It's Lance's, of course," Tabitha rolled her eyes as Kitty stared at her, laughing.

One of the rules for being a cupid was _not_ telling who wrote the card to the person who received it, but Tabitha didn't seem to find it as fun as telling them.

The girl read the card, her blue eyes quickly going through the lines written on the red paper, yet catching every detail of the words contained in there.

"So?" Tabitha asked, curious to know what was in Kitty's letter.

When the girl finished reading the letter, she looked at her with a censored face, even though it showed a great satisfaction. "Letters are, like, usually personal."

Tabitha shrugged as she picked up a letter from the basket, reading the name to know for whom she would give it. "I've already read it, anyway," she said reading the name in the letter.

Kitty put her hands on her hips, trying to sound indignant with her friend for having done something like that, but she herself could not contain her own excitement because of Lance's letter.

Tabitha looked at her side and seemed to spot the receiver's face.

"HEY!" she shouted to a boy with long brown hair that was talking with his friends a few meters away.

Kitty, including all who were close to the brown haired boy, jumped in surprise. The brown haired boy looked at Tabitha, startled, as she approached.

"Yo' Aaron, right?" she asked aloud.

The boy looked around to make sure she was talking to him, and then agreed when realizing Tabitha was.

"Here you go, hottie," she said handing him a pink letter. After that, she winked at him as she went away and put the index finger under the chin of his other friend.

Kitty rolled her eyes...

Surely she wasn't acting like cupid... it was more for an insane Aphrodite.

"Hopefully, anyone will complain 'bout Tabitha later..." Amara told Kitty as she approached her also holding a basket with letters.

Kitty looked at her mutant friend and also agreed.

The two continued to observe Tabitha delivering the letters with her non-sense way. They laughed and Amara saw the red card in Kitty's hand.

"Is it Lance's?" she asked.

Kitty blushed and said yes. Amara smiled at her.

* * *

Pyro left the diner with his stomach full and his headphones on the maximum volume.

He began to whistle as he listened to the music and watched energetically the shops, cars and people around him as he continued walking.

His eyes suddenly met with a diamond necklace behind the glass of a jewelry store.

He stopped at once and began to admire each diamond of the necklace that should be for sure made of silver... or at least coated on silver.

His eyes sparkled as his greed increased in size, and he then began planning a way to get that necklace.

_If Gambit were here, he would for sure know how to get this thing without anyone seeing. _Pyro thought, but then shrugged ... Where was the fun on stealing something without making any damage?

He rummaged through the pockets of his torn blue jeans until he found his lighter...

Maybe he would steal it _now_... But it wasn't a good idea without his outfit, since even _he _knew it wasn't good when people recognized him on the street when not using his outfit.

Then he saw something unexpected.

Gambit.

Inside the store.

At first he thought the Cajun was stealing something, but then the store clerk put a small pendant in a little box and handed it to Gambit, who thanked her with a head movement.

Pyro gasped and squeezed his face against the glass of the jewelry store along with his hands, trying to find out if what he was looking at was true. His blue eyes widened by surprise.

He was... paying for something… _expensive_...?

It didn't take much for Gambit to realize his Acolyte mate outside the store, squeezing his face against the glass of the store and looking straight at him, startled.

The store clerk also seemed to realize the boy with orange hair and at first was a little frightened by the crazy teenager making a strange noise with his mouth. It seemed like a replica of Edvard Munch's painting _The Scream_.

Gambit sighed impatiently.

"You know him?" she asked for the tall Cajun beside her, a little less scared.

"Unfortunately I do, _petit_," he said with his accent. "And don' be afraid," he continued saying as he walked away, leaving the store and going until Pyro was. "He's jus' like dat."

The clerk laughed when seeing that, when the Cajun started walking calmly, yet looking a little impatient, the orange-haired boy followed him asking things she couldn't understand very well because of the glass confusing her hearing.

"Ya _bought _it?" he asked as he pointed to the little box in Gambit's hand.

The Cajun pretended to ignore his Acolyte partner while walking down the street.

"_Shut up_, John," he said, as he looked only forward, after realizing that Pyro would not shut up so early.

"Is it fo' someone? Is it fo' a sheila? Of course it is fo' a sheila. It can _only_ be fo' a sheila..."

Gambit sighed once more as Pyro followed him, without stopping making questions.

"Non' of yo' business..."

"Ya'll meet her now, won'tcha? Now that it's Valentoine's Day and..." he once again gasped quickly, as if he had realized something. Gambit looked startled at the Australian and raised an eyebrow as Pyro stared him with his eyes widened. "Are ya _dating_?"

Gambit rolled his eyes, "_Non_, Pyro."

"'F course ya are," he laughed in his maniac way. "Gambit has a girlfriend, Gambit has a girlfriend, Gambit has a girlfriend!" he sang. People passing nearby started to grimace at the redhead, wondering why a grown up teenager like that acted like a five-year-old child.

Gambit just pretended not to know him, but it was a difficult task, now that Pyro was pointing at him, saying:_ Gambit has a girlfriend!_

He sighed and gave up on ignoring him.

The Cajun turned his body to Pyro with his scary look, which made the Australian stand still.

Gambit took his earphone and, before Pyro realized he was picked up by his wrists tightly. Even before he could understand what was happening, Pyro realized that his wrists were tied to a pole nearby in a fast movement of Gambit. His headphones used as ropes.

"Hey, whatcha doin'?" Pyro said. "These headphones are fuckin' expensive, did ya know that?" he smoldered.

Gambit took Pyro's slack pants and pulled them down, leaving the teenager wearing only his flames-printed boxer shorts.

"_HEY_!" Pyro shouted as Gambit walked away with his hands in the pockets of his overcoat. "Ya're not goin' to leave moi here, are ya?" he waited for the Cajun to turn around, "_Gambit_?"

He did nothing, just turned the nearest corner, getting out of sight.

Pyro sighed. "Ya and your big mouth, John," he said to himself as he tried to break off from his own headphones.

"Look, Mommy! A boy wearing pink panties!" a little girl who passed by hand in hand with her mother said, pointing to Pyro while giggling.

"Yes, yes, my dear, you're very smart. Just don't look at him," her mother said frightened as she placed her hands over the little girl's eyes and moved her daughter away ASAP from the boy stuck on the pole.

Pyro felt his face turning red and said to the little girl, screaming, "That's not pink! It's _red_! R-E-D!" He grunted and rolled his eyes," We have a color-blind kid there," he muttered to himself.

**HEY! How was it? **

**As it can be seen by the fan fiction, I really like to write the relationships between the other X-men and the past of each of them - their stories, etc. – along with details; that's why I have classified the fic as Adventure. The main point, of course, is Gambit and Rogue's relationship, but that does not mean that there isn't some other stories in the middle, because I've always loved every X-men, and I always thought they deserve their space in the fic. Besides, I don't like those things that are too melodramatic and blah blah and any other thing happens in the story.**

**Things to come in the chapters later on - I intend to put, at least? Two words, try to guess: C…D…**

**I'll let the curiosity in the air so I won't end up telling everything… But I think you guys already have figured it out.**


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Gambit leaned his body on his motorcycle parked in front of the sidewalk. He moved into the pockets of his coat and pulled out his box of cigarettes. He lit one with his own powers since no one was around and exhaled the smoke that spread through the cold air of that night.

The street where he parked his motorcycle was deserted and the streetlights were too weak to get a good picture in the darkness. The air was cold and dry, which was a surprise as the summer approached.

It was in those moments he remembered the drowned nights of New Orleans and how he missed those days when he sat at a bar table playing cards or drinking his bourbon... He visited a few bars around Bayville... but they were not the same. Something was missing. The accents, the kinds of people... even the tourists. They were not the same thing and…

He heard a scream coming from down the street.

His face automatically turned to the direction of the scream, attentive to what was coming.

A girl was running, getting increasingly close to him. Her eyes were widened of fear and, soon after her, two teenage appeared, also running with the same expression on their faces. All were pale and did not seem to care they were breathless.

"Monster!" she started to scream without even realizing Gambit's shadow in the street.

The Cajun raised an eyebrow and threw his cigarette on the floor, wiping it with his boot. His attention now completely focused on the group of teenagers in gala clothes running down the street.

Where did he recognize them?

He didn't know… maybe because it was rather dark to see with precision.

The three teens finally stopped a few feet from Gambit and seemed to try to catch breath. The other girl was crying and seemed the most terrified of the three. The only boy in the group tried to comfort her, but it seemed neither he could do it, because he was nearly in the same situation as hers.

Gambit walked slowly for the group to notice his presence and not get startled.

One of the girls finally seemed to notice him around, and he just asked without approaching more the street light where the three were.

"Are you okay? What happened? "

She was about to answer, but her eyes met his and she returned to get whitish as paper. The little breath she managed to recover was gone in a blink.

Gambit tried not to notice the look of surprise in the girl's face, but he couldn't contain himself when he recognized from where that girl was.

"Aren't yo' from Bayville High School?" he asked.

The whitish girl, still scared of those two red and dark eyes, tried to nod. She immediately tried to speak, but faltered as she walked away.

She was way too scared to say a word.

The other two teens finally looked at the stranger's shadow and had the same reaction the girl had. The teenager boy in suit was the only one that could talk, "Y-You're a mutant," his gaze soon shone in disgust even though he was scared.

Gambit ignored the last comment of the boy and approached the pale girl. She was the only one who answered his question.

"What happened?" he tried to sound calm, but had a bad feeling.

"M-Monsters," she said moving away from the Cajun, answering for pure fear of what he could do to her.

"_Where_?" Gambit grabbed her by the shoulders ignoring the insults of the boy beside her.

"I-In our school..." her eyes seemed confused and frightened.

Gambit let her go at once and ran to his bike.

That was enough to know it was better to see what was happening. He turned his motorcycle on and left at high speed toward the school.

* * *

Rogue looked at the black dress she wore through the mirror. She bit her lip as she turned her body to be able to have different angles of it.

It was short and tight, with thick and straight straps. Rogue's legs were covered by a thin black pantyhose and she wore a pair of high heels that Kitty had found in her wardrobe along with that dress, long forgotten by Rogue. The fact was: Rogue bought that dress a long time ago, but never had the will to use it.

She could not help but agree that Kitty managed to find a style she liked and could use. Moreover, it looked like Kitty _really_ wanted Rogue to go to that prom... She insisted that Rogue almost relented, but she managed to hold on and, in the end, there she was, in her bedroom wearing the clothes that Kitty had arranged for her, while the others went to the prom - and that included the younger X-men.

Rogue gave one last look at the black dress before thinking of take it off.

The moment she lowered the zipper of the garment, her cell phone rang.

"Hello?" she said as she turned to look in the mirror.

"Rogue?" said Kitty's voice on the side end of the line.

"Kitty? Are ya alright?" The Gothic asked when noticing her friend's tone of voice.

"Actually, _no_," the girl seemed to be gasping.

"What happened?" Rogue completely turned her attention to the phone.

"Um, you know that strange monsters that Kurt accidentally brought here at once? Well... THEY ARE HERE AGAIN!" she shouted the last sentence.

"What?" The Gothic froze not knowing what to say.

"Call everyone in there!" Kitty said, "They're increasing!" the cell signal dropped.

Rogue tried to call her several times but received no response in return.

She quickly put on her leather gloves that were over her desk and ran out the mansion looking for someone, but found no one.

She searched in the kitchen, the bedrooms, living room, guestroom...

No sign of Logan, Pete, Beast or Storm.

Rogue ran down to the basement at the X-men base. She met Professor Xavier and Beast in the Control Room.

"Professor!" Rogue said panting.

The man in the wheelchair turned to her with a startled expression.

"Those... _things_. They returned," Xavier's eyes widened and took his wheelchair to the glass that led to a view of the Danger Room.

Rogue ran to his and Beast's side and saw those red scary beasts, departing from a shiny hole in the air.

Xavier put his fingertips on his temples and looked at Beast. Hank nodded, getting off the Control Room and soon appearing in the Danger Room, along with Ororo who Xavier had called telepathically.

Rogue looked at his teacher and said. "There's more in school!" she said.

"I'm calling Forge," Xavier went to the controls of the room to call the technology mutant.

"I'm going there!" Rogue said running out.

"Rogue!" Charles tried to stop her, but she did not listen and disappeared, running to the living room. She looked in the basket that usually kept the keys of vehicles and only found one.

The X-men took the X-Van, Scott's and Jean's cars... Logan was out with his motorcycle, and so was Pete with his.

What was left ... Logan's _other _bike.

Rogue grabbed the keys and ran out to the garage without thinking twice. She put the helmet and sat on Logan's blue bike.

_He's gonna kill meh for this_, Rogue thought as she started the bike and lowered the helmet visor.

Logan's bike scampered through the mansion to leave the property and go toward the streets of Bayville.

Rogue parked the bike in the school parking lot as fast as she could and ran into the school, now completely deserted. Students surely fled that place in a while ago. Even the parking lot was nearly empty, except for a few cars - among them the X-Van and Jean's and Scott's cars.

She went down the hall looking for Kitty or any other X-men.

Before she continued to run, she left her high heels in a hidden corner. She would take them back later; she just could not run with those things because they were dropping from her feet all the time. How she wanted to at last have time to put her uniform…

Rogue continued to run in the school until her eyes spotted something moving down the hall, a few feet away from her. She stopped running the same moment she managed to discern what that huge shadow was. Her feet slipped on the smooth floor of the school, causing her to brutally sit.

"Damn," Rogue looked at the huge red lizard approaching slowly from her body.

Her eyes quickly looked for something she could use to hit that thing... Nothing. Not even a fire extinguisher or a trash can.

She thought again and the only thing that came into her head was to take her glove off and touch that red creature with her bare skin. She rolled her eyes at the thought of what would happen if her mind absorbed such a mind, if it _had_ a mind.

It was the only thing to do...

She was soon taking off the glove of her right hand while the huge lizard approached.

"Come here, your weirdo thing" she folded the finger at the monster and extended her bare hand to it. "Here. Just for ya, "she gave it a wicked smile and the beast finally jumped toward her.

Rogue's hand would touch that monster's squamous skin... if it were not for a metal staff hit its face and throw it back to the end of the corridor.

Rogue's eyes widened and a tall figure landed in front of her, holding a metal bo staff. The red beast rose and growled to the shade, slowly approaching again.

"I think I came her' just in time," Gambit said, looking at Rogue over his shoulder.

She rolled her eyes while standing up, and wiped the back of her dress with her hands. Only now she realized ... her pantyhose had some holes thanks to Logan's bike.

"Ah didn't need help," she told the Cajun watching him askance and hiding her surprise at seeing him.

"Sure you didn't," he said with his half smile.

"Look out!" she yelled pointing to the monster that jumped back into the Cajun.

Rogue threw herself to the side so that thing wouldn't hit her, her body slamming aside over the metal cabinet of the corridor.

Gambit put his bo staff between the red lizard's teeth and tried to push it away. Its teeth inches from his face. He twisted his mouth thanks to the smell coming out of the mouth of the creature, and wished a lot his nose was capped at the moment.

The Cajun mutant landed the sole of his foot hard on the chest of the red animal and its body slipped through the floor of the hallway, trying to get up awkwardly while its long tail bounced up from one side to the other, beating and kneading the lockers at its side.

It sharp-clawed paws finally returned to touch the ground and the monster insisted on attacking the human in front of it.

Gambit smiled and took a little card from the pocket of his overcoat. He charged it and ran towards the monster with a smile.

His body jumped in a fatal spin over the monster and he threw his card. A shining Seven of Swords in a vivid magenta stuck in the back of the scaly lizard.

Gambit ran until the end of the corridor for self protection as he put his feet on the ground and the explosive card illuminated the dark hallway for a few seconds, followed by a noise. When the smoke cleared, Gambit searched for the scaly monster and found it still conscious rising from the ground.

"_Merde_, you're rather stubborn..." said the Cajun looking for another card in his pocket.

The monster, though disoriented, jumped back into the mutant. This time, it was Rogue who attacked it.

She hit it with a fire extinguisher she had found near one of the lockers, making a fuss of bone and metal echoes through the school.

The giant lizard fell to the ground, finally unconscious.

Rogue sighed and, as a precaution, brutally threw at the monster the extinguisher that now had a white liquid escaping from a hole formed in the middle of it.

Rogue clapped her hands into each other and looked at Gambit with her green eyes surrounded by a dark eye-shadow. "Like Ah said... Ah did _not_ need help," she said.

Gambit shrugged as he stared at her up and down.

She wore a short black dress – which he suspected it was the one he had seen lying on the floor of her room a while ago – black tights with holes in several places, a hand without a glove, while her arms were completely exposed - which was not common to her. Her hair was disheveled, she was shoeless and her eyes were shining because of the adrenaline.

Rogue also stared. And he knew she had not forgotten the fight they had. But she looked way calmer then before…

"What are ya doing here, anyway?" she averted her gaze from the Cajun and searched for her other black glove through the floor of the dark corridor, now quite dirty and full of holes because of the explosive Seven of Swords.

"It's complicated," he said when finding Rogue's glove on the ground and delivering it to its owner. The Gothic took her piece of cloth as soon as possible.

When he opened his mouth to explain, Kurt appeared on his blue form down the hall. At his side, Jean floated a bit tired and disheveled; her purple dress not in much better state than Rogue's.

"Rogue," Kurt yelled when he saw his sister. He ran to her and hugged her. Jean flew behind him. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Before Rogue could answer him, Kurt's eyes widened when he realized that the shadow that was beside his sister was… Gambit.

"What's he doing here?" Jean said, her feet softly landing on the floor. Her expression was not one of the friendliest, but she seemed to try to control it, even though she was mentally preparing herself for another possible fight.

"Ah don't know," Rogue said when Kurt walked away from her. She hesitated, but then continued. "But he helped meh fight that thing over there," she said pointing to the red monster lying on the ground. As much as Rogue was angry over Gambit, she did not wish an unnecessary fight… since he saved her from absorbing one of those nasty things.

The blue boy and the redhead mutant stared at each other surprised.

Kurt seemed a little more understanding than Jean, perhaps by what happened a few months ago. He, however, pretended not to remember anything since Gambit himself did not seem to want to talk about that.

Gambit tried a friendly smile, which did not lessen Jean's mistrust, although it unhardened the expression of her face to see he didn't want a fight.

She did not feel comfortable, though. Maybe because, for some reason, she could not read his mind. It was as if he, without even realizing it, had a natural protection against telepaths.

Jean raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms as a way to hide her insecurity.

"Forge's here, he vanished the things in the gym away and is coming here..." Kurt said to Rogue as he read a message on his cell phone.

His sister nodded with a smile and she soon saw a crowd of teenagers approaching. Forge appeared in their midst with a brand new device in hands. It was smaller and easier to carry.

Scott came behind him and immediately ran to Jean, hugging her. His face took a calm and relieved expression although very tired.

Forge looked at Rogue and and then Gambit and then to the monster lying unconscious on the floor a few feet behind them.

"Great job," he said absently for both. The southerners responded with a weak smile and a positive movement of the head; watching the black-haired mutant walk with their eyes only.

He walked up to the monster and quickly programmed his device to send the creature back into its place.

Scott, who finally broke free of the hug he gave to Jean, looked into the hallway almost unrecognizable - his suit was torn in several places and his red glasses were switched by the visor of his uniform. He then looked at Rogue and then to the Cajun whose red eyes seemed distracted and surprised with the apparatus of the genius mutant at his side.

He forgot his girlfriend by his side and was soon approaching Gambit. "What's he doing here?" he asked placing a hand over his visor.

Gambit raised an eyebrow, but thought it was best to keep quiet... for now. His face had not changed even a centimeter, but his eyes shone more, expressing his wish for a little fight.

Rogue, alarmed when seeing Gambit's expression, stood quietly between the two.

"It's all right, Scott..." she said putting a loose white strand behind her fair ear. "He actually helped meh," she finally admitted.

The Cajun raised an eyebrow at the Gothic and half smiled weakly, yet satisfied. Gambit actually _did _save her... did save her from acting like a scaly monster with bad breath.

Scott also raised an eyebrow beneath his visor, still thinking if he should believe in his friend or attack Gambit.

He, like almost all the X-Men, did not trust Gambit. And his cocky and irresponsible way did not help anything.

When Rogue continued to stand still in front of Gambit, without seeming to want to leave, Scott lowered his hand as he went away from Gambit. His attention, however, still looked toward him, as if still expecting Gambit to attack.

He looked at Rogue. "Do you know if there's more monsters from around here?" he asked in a non-calm tone of voice, showing that the girl should explain herself later. She almost felt it was Logan who spoke to her.

Rogue nodded and warned about Kitty, who was not around. Scott nodded and then ran off to look for Shadowcat. The other X-men followed him, including Rogue. Gambit at first thought of not following them, but suspected that there might be more monsters out there and went along with the X-men.

Rogue looked at him askance; a little unsure of what would happen then if Scott lost control over Gambit.

It wouldn't end well...

But Gambit knew how to take care of himself, so she let it go and continued to follow Scott.

Arriving near the bathroom, the X-men spotted Kitty, along with the entire Brotherhood. Wanda – who had a talkative Toad by her side – seemed relieved. She got up from the floor where she sat.

"Finally," she said looking at the X-men and caught Gambit's eyes.

She raised an eyebrow suspiciously, Gambit winked at her in his normal way among with a seductive smile. "How are you, Wanda? Yo' father sends his regards," he said.

She got angry but decided to stay silent, although Pietro seemed uneasy on hearing the Acolyte's words. It had been a long time that the Brotherhood didn't see Magneto... much less Mystic – who vanished from the map _again_. And none of them, much less Pietro, wanted to hear about these two.

"Whoa," Toad cried when perceiving Gambit's presence, but quickly recovered. "What's he doing here?"

"You're not the first to ask this," Scott murmured idly with his arms crossed over his chest.

Toad looked at Gambit again suspiciously. "You're not gonna try to explode me again... will you?"

Gambit chuckled. "I'm not here in work…" he said raising an eyebrow.

Rogue just rolled her eyes as Forge eliminated the last two creatures that appeared in the entire school.

"Okay," he said as he walked toward Scott. "I think this was the last. I already got rid of those creatures in Xavier's mansion and he said he had Storm and Beast to check other places where the holes opened, so I guess I'll go there to give them a little hand. "

"But," Jean said. "Don't you think these holes can re-open again?"

Forge smiled, "No worries about that, I gave some improvement to this 'baby' here and did a test with the extra-dimensional hole in the hall. The device can't only send the extra-dimensional creatures back home, but also correct any 'error' in the holes, as if they were prevented from opening even before it happened. Like a firewall," he tried to explain in the simplest way possible.

Everyone looked at each other and agreed a little easier.

The X-men accompanied Forge to the school exit. Scott offered help, but the boy said that they had already helped enough and that if needed, he would call them.

Everyone began to sigh with relief and exhaustion at the moment Forge went out... They were fine, with no serious injury, with only a few scratches and torn clothes...

Scott, however, thought it was best to look in the rest of the school to see if there was any wounded person. Jean made a mental scan through the entire school and did not find any other presence but the mutants'.

"Well, guys," Bom Bom said, stretching as she returned to the parking lot with her red dress dirty and singed. "I don't know 'bout you guys, but I need to rest. The party was good while it lasted..."

The younger mutants followed her, probably going to the X-van. Kurt just left the gym looking for Amanda in the last place he left her to protect her. The two returned after a while for him to return her home. Even though Kurt didn't like the idea, Amanda, like always, would hide what happened to her parents as long as she could…

The Brotherhood also went away to see that the party was over, but Lance decided to stay with Kitty, handing Wanda the keys of his Jeep. The rest of the mutants rested in the bleachers of the gym, trying to catch the breath they lost.

Kitty sat beside Lance with a smile. Avalanche heaved a weary sigh and put his arm around Kitty.

"Well, at least the the party was good, until it lasted..." she said looking around the gym, now completely destroyed. The bleachers were untouched in some parts, but in others they were full of holes. The floor was a carpet of dust in some areas thanks to the walls that have lost much of its structure. The food tables were destroyed: a couple of them were broken in half, others thrown to the ground. And the X-men knew that later they would be blamed for the mess.

Kitty leaned her head on Avalanche's shoulder, feeling how hot it was. She felt Lance give her a short laugh.

Shadowcat looked at him and he said, "Too bad we didn't manage to dance a slow one... You said you wanted to."

Kitty stared at him with shining eyes. She then found the music controls and smiled as she stood up.

Lance raised an eyebrow and watched as the little girl ran to the music controls.

Although the controls were not one hundred percent fine, they could play a song. She went to the only speaker that worked in the entire gym and lifted it up, increasing the volume of the music.

The X-men looked at Kitty as she returned to where Lance was and pulled him back to the middle of the gym.

"What are you doing?" Lance asked curiously.

"You said we don't dance," she smiled shyly as she placed her hands on Avalanche's shoulders. "So let's dance."

Lance, realizing what Kitty meant, gave her a warm smile and put his hands around her waist. The two started dancing silently and calmly to the rhythm of music.

Before long, Jean, Scott, Kurt and Amanda joined them.

Although tired, they thought to seize the chance Kitty gave. The fact that the gym was no longer full of teenagers that liked having _no_ mutants around seemed _way _better than before.

Rogue stared at the three couples dancing quietly in the middle of the gym.

Amanda was with her face resting on Kurt's uniform. Her eyes were closed and her fleshy mouth showed a soft smile hidden by Kurt's shoulder.

Lance was saying something quietly to Kitty and she gave him spontaneous smiles and laughter.

Scott and Jean seemed to be laughing at some joke he told and they didn't stop to stare at each other. Or rather, Jean stared at the visor as if she could see two eyes even if with that red glow disturbing. And Scott couldn't take his smile away from his face. It was as if the two were stuck in some kind of look that only they understood.

Rogue looked away, feeling she was invading their personal space.

She stared at the floor for a few minutes, taking the opportunity to earn more breath and preparing to take a scolding from Logan when he discovered that she had taken his motorcycle without permission.

A plastic cup came into her vision area and Rogue looked up.

Gambit stood beside her with a weak smile as he held the cup.

"I thought you would want one too," he said, sitting beside her.

Rogue took it to realize it was water and drank it in one gulp. Then she glared the Cajun beside her who drank his water more calmly. He wore a pair of jeans ripped on one knee, a blue shirt and those white ankle boots he always uses with his uniform, his known trench coat covering much of his body.

She looked away, without another word. Gambit himself seemed distracted as he looked at the couples dancing a few feet from them.

Rogue looked at him once more to realize that he also seemed to face her. She soon turned her face, pretending to look at Kurt and Amanda dancing.

"Anyway, what are ya doin' here?"

He smiled. "How about we talk 'bout it as we dance?" he said extending his hand and getting up.

Rogue looked from Gambit's hand to his face. And she remembered being with fully exposed arms thanks to the haste to run to the school.

"I do _not_ dance," she said as an excuse, even if it were true. She never danced a slow song in her whole life.

"It's easier dan it looks," he said, still with his hand outstretched in front of him.

Rogue looked at him and said with a sigh, "Ya won't take a _no_ as an answer, will ya?"

He gave her his charming smile and spoke firmly, "Nope."

Rogue rolled her eyes leaving the plastic cup aside. She stood up and took his hand. As always, they were hot, even with two thick layers of fabric between their skins.

They took only a few steps away from the bleachers, getting a good distance from the other X-He didn't want to draw any other's attention but Rogue's.

"Ah already told ya Ah don't dance these kind of musics..." Rogue muttered as Gambit grabbed her wrists. He put her hands around his neck and his hands ended up around her waist.

Rogue, even though she tried not to, looked way lost.

"Put you' feet on top of mine," he said looking at her. Rogue stared doubtful, but he continued, "It helps. And I think yo' not _dat_ heavy" he joked.

Rogue gave him a dry smile and put her bare feet over Gambit's boots. Her eyes busy on the ground to follow his steps.

With the part of his gloved hand, Gambit gently pulled Rogue's chin up.

"Pay no attention to yo' feet," he said.

She twisted her face.

Her eyes could not look at anything else besides those red irises and black sclera.

And he seemed to be enjoying the fact that she was lost ...

"So," she said to cut the silence. "As Ah was saying... how ya got here? "

Gambit chuckled and replied, "I saw some of the students running out of yo' school down the street, saying dey saw a kind of monster here. So Gambit decided to check it out. "

Rogue raised an eyebrow at him.

"And I t'ink I came here just in time."

She rolled her eyes.

"You said so. Dat I saved you, I mean…" Gambit continued with a cocky smile. Rogue could not argue with that, because even she knew she would be lying.

She then chose to remain silent because she knew very well she wouldn't thank him either.

However, Gambit knew very well how relieved she felt. He would feel the same if he got saved from absorbing a monster like that.

He looked up and down and said, "You look great in dat dress, you know dat?"

Rogue gave him a suspicious look, "Ah'll pretend Ah didn't hear that."

He laughed, but he knew that if he continued to push her as he did that night near the diner, she would start a fight again.

And that was the last thing he wanted to do.

Still, he couldn't resist on taking that white lock of her away from her face.

Rogue still said nothing, but did her best not to seem disjointed. She knew that this was what he wanted.

"Can Ah ask ya something?" She said.

Gambit looked at her curiously. "Sure."

Rogue hesitated before speaking.

"What did ya want to ask meh that night at the diner?" She looked directly at him.

He laughed a little to himself and replied, "Only if you answer dat question."

Rogue rolled her eyes, knowing he would make such a proposal. Gambit was gambling... What a surprise.

"I'll try," was what she said.

He was silent for a moment, but quickly replied, "In dat fight with Juggernaut... Y' protected me from getting shot… Why? "

Rogue didn't change an inch of her expression, and again it would seem convincing, if it wasn't Gambit who was analyzing her.

He noticed that her eyes changed and seemed to want to deviate from his face. Something common that she did when she wanted to get someone's attention away from her face.

The time she took to answer wasn't too long, but he did draw a lot of information in this short time.

She thought of saying that he would do the same for her... but he would certainly understand it the wrong way.

"Just because you're the enemy, does not mean Ah want to see ya hurt or whatever..."

"At the point of entering in front of me?" He asked again, wanting to make her say something different.

"Ah was going to_ get_ away," she said angrily.

He decided not to keepasking, because somehow he got what he wanted, but returned to play with her hair. Rogue just watched as he curled his fingers through her locks. He seemed to have a great interest in her white locks; even when she was little - and those white part began to appear - Rogue was very annoyed because of them by the other children. Only after learning that she was a mutant she began to guess that her hair could be just another part of her genetic mutation.

Still, she never met anyone who liked her white locks like she did.

"Then we're even," he said still watching her hair. Rogue lifted her eyes at him curiously, "You saved me... and I saved you."

Rogue bit her lips, but she knew he was right. "Maybe," she said with a smile and a raised eyebrow doubtful.

He also gave her a smile.

Who knew that a year ago, he was unwilling to join Magneto, with no desire to move to Bayville? Well, until he found something interesting that he never thought would happen.

Even if they seemed so different, Gambit knew Rogue was like him.

Although we didn't know much about her past - and thank God she did not know his - Gambit could see that Rogue hasn't gone through easy things.

And he was really enjoying being beside her, until someone interrupted them.

And that someone was Logan.

He appeared in the gym entrance overlooking the parking lot and interrupted everyone's dance.

Rogue, at the same moment she saw him, got away from Gambit and tried to look unnoticed, even though she knew that wasn't exactly possible.

Logan, noticing Rogue's movement looked directly at her as he approached.

"Stripes, you're in trouble, you know that right?" he said now inches from her face.

"Ah can explain," she said knowing exactly what he was talking about.

Logan finally seemed to realize Gambit around. He wrinkled his nose and looked directly at him.

"And what the hell is he..."

"Doing here?" Rogue said rolling her eyes already tired of hearing the same question, "Ah also can explain that."

Wolverine growled at Gambit who raised his hands in a sign of innocence. At first, the brown eyed mutant returned his gaze to Rogue and then left.

She rolled her eyes, thinking how Logan acted as an authoritarian father.

"Trouble?" Gambit said accompanying her to the parking lot following the other X-Men also going to their vehicles in front of them.

Rogue shrugged, "Ah kind of… _took_ his bike," she said.

Gambit chuckled.

Upon arriving in the parking lot each entered into their respective vehicles. Only Rogue seemed doubtful whether climbing or not over Logan's bike.

She looked at Wolverine, who sat on his bike with red flames, and he said, "She better not have _any_ scratch when I get back..."

Rogue felt a little more relieved while searching for the key she had left underneath the bike. No one would take that bike since there was an infestation of lizards right off.

"Just wondering..." Gambit asked as he watched her get up. Rogue looked at him and sat on the bike, as she put the key in the ignition, "Y' came here barefoot, or are these yours?" He held up a pair of high heels he had kept behind his back. Who knew when he found them.

Rogue tried to reach her high heels, but Gambit raised them into the air.

"Give it back, Swamp Rat," she said getting out of the bike.

"I t'ink dat's not my real name," he said with his annoying smile.

Rogue jumped up and finally reached her shoes.

She put them on and went back to sit on the bikes.

Gambit put his hand over hers, before she could accelerate the bike and said, "Night, _chère_."

She smiled at him and even if she had spoken low, she replied, "Night, Gambit." He saved her in the end… she could thank him at least with a proper good bye.

And she accelerated the bike following the other X-men leaving Gambit behind.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Rogue's gloved fingers clamped tightly the dark fabric of her gown. She heard the principal's speech without really paying attention to his words. Moreover, in _what _should she listen to? He was not any better than the former principal Kelly, who disappeared from the map after losing the election for mayor.

She looked at something that wasn't his face. Her fingers now turned to her white locks, taking them away from her face.

The time didn't spend.

She quietly looked into the audience and found there a white-haired woman, Storm, and her professor at her side, both sitting in the bleachers of Bayville High School.

"You _all_ can win the differences..." continued the director whose name she couldn't remember.

She again turned her attention to the bleachers, distracting herself with lots of people sitting there. Parents, uncles, grandparents, brothers and sisters ... all gathering to see the ones they loved finish another stage of their lives.

Rogue continued her observation through the endless faces of the audience, who were too busy looking at the other trainees to notice her staring. It was then that she met someone familiar.

A familiar face that she hadn't seen in a long time.

It was woman, with a tired face and short hair losing its brown color. Her empty eyes, hidden under two black lenses, seemed to be staring at her from all those teenagers. But Rogue knew that woman enough to know that those eyes couldn't see _anything_... At least nothing in the present.

Still, the girl directed her face to her knees and no longer looked at that point.

A question occupying her head during that endless speech.

_What is she doing here?_

After a few more tenths of minutes of speech, the principal finally gave his final farewell to the students, saying that "everyone" would have a bright future, and left the podium after delivering the diplomas.

Students climbed down from the stage and began to get closer to their relatives and colleagues.

Rogue didn't rush. After seeing that familiar face, she didn't want to get close to that grandstand. But she knew she was just delaying things, so she walked faster and ignored when Irene passed near her.

"Rogue," she said turning her face at the same time the girl walked near her side.

Rogue pretended not to hear, but the woman was faster and put her hand over Rogue's shoulder.

Both were silent even though the background was noisy because other people talking.

"What are ya doin' here?" Rogue said coldly without even turning her head.

Irene ignored her tone. She knew she would be treated this way.

"I came to see you," she said quietly, a little tenderness covering her voice.

Rogue did the same: ignored her tone. "Ya came to see how mah powers are, instead," she said shaking her shoulder to take Irene's hand away.

This time the woman didn't hide her sadness, and Rogue felt guilty for a few seconds.

"This is _not_ true," Irene continued, her brows came together in a downcast expression.

Rogue gave her a dry laugh.

"Rogue," the woman insisted, incredibly following Rogue, as if she could see her perfectly. "Rogue, you know that's not true," she turned the girl to face her.

"Do Ah _really_ know?" she asked, feeling hit. "Ah bet it was Mystique who sent ya here."

The blind woman would soon disagree, but Rogue didn't give her the chance. "Go _away_."

And she walked away without a look back. Gradually Rogue walked away from all these people she would never see again, until she found another group of familiar faces, but those were welcome. None of them seemed to notice Irene's presence. Not even Professor Xavier... perhaps because Irene is as trained as Mystique when it came to mental training.

Storm was the first to congratulate Rogue, then Professor Xavier, Kurt and Kitty.

Kitty and Kurt seemed most excited to see Rogue graduating. And she felt comfortable listening to the conversation of her two friends as they returned to the X-van.

"Have you seen the new guy that will be teaching us?" Kitty said. "He was sitting near the English teacher and had a pretty serious face..."

Kurt nodded, "Won't he be the new biology teacher or something?"

"I think so, but he seemed kind of... bizarre, didn't he? "

Kurt raised an eyebrow, "You always find something strange in people, Kitty."

Kitty sniffed in indignation, "Not true! It's just that I found the guy kinda hideous! How couldn't you think that? He had a weird smile and..."

Rogue, who until now was silent as she followed the four X-men, noticed a familiar bike parked in the corner of the parking lot.

She frowned for a moment and began to observe the parking lot more carefully, already knowing who the owner of that motorcycle was.

And it was then that she saw Gambit's trench coat and his auburn hair as he walked discreetly in an opposite direction without attracting anyone's attention.

"Uh," Rogue said to call Kitty and Kurt's attention without alarming Storm and Professor Xavier. She knew that the Professor would suspect something if she spoke to him directly. "Ah need to go back because... Ah have to go to the bathroom, "she considered this one as the worst excuse she have ever given, but the two didn't seem to suspect. "Ah'll be right back," she said giving her gown and her diploma to Kitty before they could say anything.

Rogue walked away to avoid suspicion and at the same times he was out of their sight, she ran looking for Gambit.

It looked like she was the only one who noticed his presence and so she decided to look up in the most hidden or empty places of the football field. She searched on the field itself, and even under the bleachers and near the garments, but nothing.

At first, she thought she was seeing things, until she felt someone putting a hand over her shoulder, making her jump in fright and turn her face at the same time.

"Hasn't anyone ever told you dat it's impolite t' persecute the others?" Gambit asked her with his cocky smile.

"Says the guy who kidnapped meh..." Rogue said calming down.

Gambit chuckled sarcastically.

"What are ya doing here anyway? Decided to ruin the graduation of dozens of students? "she put her hands on her hips.

Gambit laughed again, "You're so suspicious of everything, aren't ya, _chère_?"

"Well, there must be a good reason for yar to come here," she wrinkled her face. "And don't ya dare say that ya came here to visit meh because Ah won't buy it..." she said before he could answer.

Rogue knew he wasn't there for that.

He laughed and put his hands in the pockets of his trench coat, "_Bien_, you got me... I came here t' terrorize the entire school blasting it to pieces. Hope you don' mind it, _chère_," his tone was sarcastic.

Rogue raised an eyebrow. He was trying to divert the conversation and she knew it. And in that moment she realized that something was wrong. But before she could speak, Gambit began to push her back to the parking lot.

"Look, _chére_, ya better go now and enjoy your graduation with your friends, _non_?"

Rogue acted stubbornly and tried to remain where she was, but Gambit was determined. He continued to pull her back to the parking lot until she lost her patience.

"Ok, what's happenin'?" she said stopping walking and turning her face to his.

Gambit twisted his mouth and said, "Let's say there's someone her' who needs my services..."

Rogue raised an eyebrow for a moment, but then really seemed to understand. She rolled her eyes to see that Gambit was not there to do what she was thinking: another dirty job from Magneto.

But when knowing that this had to do with Gambit's _other_ job, she decided not to mess with. She didn't want to know more than what he already said to her.

"Whatever," she said walking to the parking lot, now willingly. "Ah have _nothing_ to do with your life anyway. Ah'm out of here. "

She stepped strong for some time and briefly looked over her shoulder just to see that Gambit was out of sight. She rolled her eyes and kept walking preparing herself to make a neutral expression so she wouldn't arouse suspicion.

Her head was so busy thinking about looking convincing she didn't notice a man walking in front of her.

Rogue managed to stop before she could hit her body with his.

She looked at the man's face. He was about medium height and wore a well-groomed black hair. But what caught Rogue's attention were his two brown eyes that had a cold and scary look.

"Sorry," the man said in a soft and friendly British accent, a huge contrast compared to his scary look.

Rogue nodded, still stuck with those two scary and sinister eyes.

"Uh," she stepped discreetly away from the man.

"You must be the Rogue, don't you?" he asked, pretending not to notice how hostile the girl was acting.

She said nothing.

"I'm the new school teacher, William Edmund" he raised his hand in a friendly gesture of politeness.

And in that second, that scary glint in his eyes vanished and Rogue came out of her trance. She blinked for a few seconds and then looked at his hand.

"Oh," she said shaking that cold hand.

He gave her another smile and Rogue could not help but smile too.

"Mah friend mentioned ya, sir," she tried to sound polite, but she could not stop smiling.

"Well, congratulations for your graduation," he said giving goodbye to the girl. "Sorry, butI have to go now, and he just walked away the same way he appeared, "I hope we meet again."

Rogue continued to watch him until he disappeared. She raised an eyebrow and then felt a cold shut invade her spine.

Maybe she saw things... but she was pretty sure that that teacher's eyes glowed red for a few seconds. There was something very wrong. But she just shook her head and was convinced she was seeing things.

She wrapped her arms with her hands and continued to walk back to the X-van.

Upon arriving in the parking lot, Rogue decided to go to the kitchen to get something to eat.

But before she could leave the garage, Professor Xavier caught her attention.

She turned to face her professor and he said, "I would like to have a word with you in my office," he smiled, taking all of Rogue's concern.

She agreed and followed him while her curiosity increased.

By some moments, she thought he was going to talk about the last telepathy sessions they had – that weren't too productive.

After the "incident" she had in the bathroom, Rogue felt compelled to have to talk to Professor Xavier. He welcomed her and the two sat in front of each other in his office.

For three hours, they stayed still like that, making a long mental therapy.

The result was inconclusive because, in a way, Rogue managed to control various minds in her head, which gave her a "break" from all that mental confusion. She took all that time to study and rest, which gave her a great condition to get good grades in her final tests – not as good as Miss Perfection's ones, though.

But what Rogue secretly hoped - even if it was something incredibly unattainable - was some kind of "cure" for her powers. Something that Professor Xavier could find in the deep corner of her mind that was an answer to her uncontrolled powers to act that way.

But nothing, even if the Professor himself also expected to find something in all that therapy.

The problem was that, even though he was an experienced man and that he was aware that some things should be handled slowly and cautiously, still there was the fact he was dealing with a teenager at the peak of her hormonal and emotional development.

Still, Rogue tried to be more controlled, because in the end he helped (and a _lot_) to improve her mental state.

She thanked Professor for the help, and politely left his office.

And there she was again, in that big and demure office. Only this time, without knowing the real reason she was there...

Professor moved his wheelchair behind his wooden desk after closing the office door, and asked Rogue to sit in that stuffed chair she so much knew.

Rogue put her gown and her diploma in a corner of the room and sat with her knees together and her gloved hands on them.

She expressed curiosity with a piece of doubt in her eyes.

The Professor gave her a warm smile and started talking in a formal tone, "Well, during your graduation, and I must diver that even before that, I was considering a proposal for you, Rogue."

She quickly raised her head at the man in front of her, getting even more curious. "Ya were?" She asked disjointed.

He smiled again and grabbed a separate folder over his desk with multiple papers within. Rogue overlooked what was written in that folder and was startled to realize it was her data he was looking.

Professor rummaged in some of her papers and continued, "From what I see in the reports from Beast, Storm, Piotr and even Logan..." he held up one of the papers to read it better, "You had one of the highest scores in all training sessions." Rogue felt her cheeks blush while Professor was still talking. "From what I read here, your income has improved in every month and you surpassed Scott in the hand-to-hand subject."

"Really?" Rogue was startled by Xavier's last words. She knew she had improved greatly in recent years, but she didn't know _how_ much.

Though she hated training sessions, Rogue knew she needed to take more care than the other X-men since her powers don't protect her against machines attacks, lasers or any other long-range weapon. Therefore, she began training by herself in the Danger Room, which still needed someone manning the controls... and that someone would be Logan.

But she wasn't considering that he _wrote down _everything.

Xavier nodded with his head and lowered the papers to look her in the eyes, "And that's why I called you here, Rogue," the girl blinked a few times. "As you know, until now, most students of this Institute are here to learn to control their powers. But I was considering another option that was to have full members at the Xavier Institute. "

"Ya mean like Storm and Beast do?" Rogue asked, beginning to understand what he teacher meant.

"Yes," he nodded, "And like Scott, who also agreed to the proposal. Jean is still considering it, but with all her studies in college, she decided to wait until she finished it. "Rogue was quiet for a moment, thousands of doubt invading her mind, yet she felt a pang of joy in her chest. She played with the fabric of her gloves, feeling a little uncomfortable.

"With all due respect… _sir_, but d' ya think Ah am..." she started to speak, but the Professor politely interrupted, completing what she was talking.

"Qualified?"

Rogue again raised her head, waiting for the answer.

"I must say _yes_, Rogue. Although there is much to be improved, I believe you're ready to become an X-man in full time. "

The only difference was that she was risking herself much more than in a normal job.

"I know this sounds like something really dangerous, since we are not talking about any kind of work, Rogue," he spoke as if he knew exactly what she was thinking. "And that's why I thought a lot before calling you here."

He looked at her and realized that Rogue seemed shocked by what he said, "I really think you're ready to become a full time X-man."

Rogue still looked frightened, her body and her heart still pounding.

Her mind tried to imagine her doing missions for the Professor, although they were more complicated than what she was used to.

Rogue smiled at Xavier.

"I know this is a complicated decision, and so I will not rush you to answer me," he said, giving her a tolerant look as he packed Rogue's files. "Feel free to let me know when you want to, and..."

"Actually," she said suddenly, "Ah think that Ah'll take it," she smiled shyly, but with conviction. Xavier also smiled and turned his eyes to her papers while looking for some in particular.

"Very well then..." Rogue waited for him to continue talking. "What we need now is a transition."

"Transition?" she asked.

"Yes," he read a paper, "Now that you've agreed, we will have to modify some brackets in your chart to see the types of training you will receive and etcetera."

She agreed, knowing that it would be a long day.

And after several papers to read, and review, and sign, Rogue finally left that office.

She could not help but feel different.

She was still used to her school routine, although she doesn't like it very much. And in that moment, she began to realize how her life was beginning to change.

She knew now that it had agreed to be an X-mn official lot in her life would be different from what she was used to. Very different.

She knew that, now that she had agreed to be an official X-man, a lot of things would be different from what she was used to. _Way_ more different.

And during the time she had been in the office, she took the opportunity to clarify any questions she had about what exactly she would do.

And that included missions, harder training sessions - she remembered Logan - and even cases involving secret things. At first, Rogue didn't think they were that different from what she did with the other X-men. But as the Professor was explaining she understood why he thought so much before calling her: even though it didn't seem, these missions were much more dangerous than she the ones she ever had, because it involved much more complicated things – like the Sentinels, S.H.I.E.L.D. and even a new anti-mutant organization that was beginning to emerge – something like Friends of Humanity.

She only learned the basics because she knew there were more to come. And that's when she realized how little she knew about the situation the world was taking.

Sometimes she heard news in newspapers or on television, but they were all very superficial, she knew. And now it was time to see what was really happening. Luckily, she still had time to rest on summer vacation since Scott decided to spend a few weeks in Hawaii to visit Alex and Logan disappeared for a long time. Jean was spending time with her family, as well as all of the people in the mansion, and that included Kitty, who was the only person who actually spent more time with Rogue. Even Kurt went to Germany to visit his foster parents and it looked like he'd be there for a long time.

And with that, Rogue spent almost a month walking through the mansion halls without even hearing a noise. The only people she saw were Professor Xavier and Beast.

Beast, who always helped her handle the controls and monitor her performance, was the one Rogue saw the most. There was no relationship of friendship like she had with Kurt and Kitty, but Rogue knew that Dr. McCoy was a good person, and he was not much to ask things - unless they were things related to technology or science. And it was during these weeks that Rogue has single-handedly increased her skills in a level "extraordinarily fast" (Beast's words). According to McCoy, she had increased her strength as well as agility and coordination.

The only thing that did not seem to change places was Rogue's powers. She also agreed with Professor Xavier's proposal on making mental therapy sessions three times a week, hoping to find some sort of key to control her powers. The only thing, though, that seemed to come out of all of this were fateful hours of psychic fighting... and Rogue was starting to get discouraged about it.

For a month, Rogue's life came down to: waking up, training, therapy, training, and sleeping. Until one day, she decided to lie in bed without moving or bothering to get dressed to go to the Danger Room. But she had another idea when she thought about her situation.

It was hot, no one was home, and most importantly, the mansion had a swimming pool - something she had forgotten a long time ago. She then went to the pool and stayed there for a long time, swimming, sunning and reading... at least until a shadow appeared and blocked her sun.

Rogue opened her eyes.

"Enjoying the time off, Stripes?" Logan said.

Even the temperature being almost one hundred, Logan did not seem to want to let go of his jacket and his cowboy hat. Rogue realized the tone in Wolverine's voice and then tried to defend herself.

"For your information, this is the first time Ah've been in this pool, Logan."

He grunted, but then gave her derision smile. "Nice tan," he pointed to Rogue's shoulders with his chin and walked away, probably going to talk to Xavier. When he was out of sight, Rogue raised an eyebrow and looked at her shoulders only to find two reddish spots.

"Great," she said to herself picking her sun blocker.

Surely it would hurt tomorrow. And a lot.

Yet, Rogue had a good time in the pool, swimming and sunbathing until she felt hungry and got in the mansion.

She climbed the stairs leading to the bedroom and went to shower to remove all the chlorine from her hair. After taking a cold shower, Rogue put a pair of torn jeans, a long sleeved V-necked shirt and a pair of all-stars. She left her hair wet and headed for the mansion kitchen. But before she got near the staircase, she saw Professor Xavier passing hastily through the corridor.

Rogue raised an eyebrow as she realized he didn't even noticed her, which was strange.

"Professor?" She said before he vanished into the elevator.

Xavier finally seemed to notice her presence and was soon saying, "Sorry, Rogue. I was in a hurry and didn't realize you. "

She approached the man in wheelchair, looking worried. "Did something happen?"

He turned his eyes to the hall ground and then returned them to Rogue. "Actually, yes, there is. Apparently, the powers of a new mutant manifested. "

Rogue was surprised. It had been a while since he last detected a new mutant around.

"Can Ah help ya with something?" She asked.

"Feel free to follow me," he smiled at her, but Rogue knew he was nervous about something.

Still, she followed him in silence to the Cerebro.

Xavier put his metal helmet and began typing in the main controls, until the huge holographic screen appeared. The Professor was silent for a few seconds with his eyes closed. Rogue looked at the holographic screen and waited for something to appear in the huge holographic world map.

The map then began to zoom, approaching increasingly in an archipelago from East Asia.

"Japan?" Rogue asked surprised.

Xavier also seemed impressed. Rogue shifted her weight from one leg to the other, restless. The map disappeared and then the information of the mutant appeared. It was a girl, and Rogue almost gasped of surprise to see who it was. The girl was short and seemed to be a year younger than Rogue. Her eyes were narrow and her hair was straight, short, with a very familiar purple color.

"I presume that this is _not _Risty, Rogue," Xavier said.

Rogue turned her gaze to the Professor, scared, but she swiftly turned her face to the screen.

"So who is she?" She tried to contain her anxiety, but her voice sounded a little lower than normal.

A data appeared beside the girl's photography and Rogue read it with caution.

_Name: Elizabeth Braddock_

_Parents: Orphan_

_Brothers: (?)_

_Age: 16 years_

_Country of Origin: England (?)_

_Current Location: Japan - Tokyo_

_Powers: Telepathy_

Xavier took off the helmet and sighed, turning to Rogue, who really seemed confused.

"Apparently," he said, calling the attention of the X-men. "Mystique must have had some contact with Elizabeth and for some purpose, used her identity... I'm pretty sure it's because, if that Elizabeth ran into the X-men, we would have a more hostile reaction towards her. Thanks to what Mystique had done."

Rogue still seemed frightened to see that familiar face and Xavier was silent, because he knew what it entailed.

But she pretended not to feel hit. She didn't want anyone feeling sorry for her.

"You detected her in _Japan_?"

Xavier nodded, "Ms. Braddock seems to be having a crisis with her powers."

"You mean..."

"They are too strong to be controlled... And that's why I detected her so far, even without the Cerebro."

Rogue looked again at the girl's data. She already had experience with uncontrolled telepaths. The door suddenly opened and Logan appeared alongside Storm who came back of her trip the day before.

"Called us?" Logan said putting his hands in his pockets and noticing the purple-haired girl on the screen.

He glanced discreetly at Rogue, who seemed quiet and expressionless.

"Yes," Xavier said with eyes fixed on the ground. "As you can see, the Cerebro has found a new mutant who seems to be having serious problems with her telepathic powers. And that's why I called you here... "

"Wanna us to pay her a visit?" Logan said in an aggressive tone. Storm rolled her eyes.

"Yes," Xavier replied ignoring Logan's tone of voice. "And I'll go with you. It seems to me that this girl is going to need my help."

Rogue just watched as the three chatted and headed for the X-Jet.

The moment the Professor stayed behind, Rogue caught his attention.

He soon turned to her, knowing what it was. "I'm sorry, Rogue, but you still need to finish your training. I hope you understand that."

She thought on saying that she was, but decided not to argue. Instead, she followed the three older X-men until the X-Jet and saw them leave.

She stayed there for some time before turning around and leaving inside the mansion.

* * *

Xavier, Storm and Wolverine were in Japan for a week. And during this period, the other X-men finally returned to the Institute.

The first to return were Jubilee, Rahne, Kitty, Bobby and Pete.

And when Shadowcat returned, Rogue realized how much she missed a talkative person by her side. Kitty told her about what she did with her parents, and about the days she spent at the beach. She, however, returned with skin rather red than tanned.

"You look different," Kitty said during a breakfast while looking at Rogue. The Gothic looked at her friend, a little confused.

"How so?"

"Oh, I know!" said Kitty crackling her fingers. "Your hair," she pulled a strand of Rogue's wavy hair. "It's wavier and longer."

Rogue rolled her eyes, but Kitty was right. Although not liking it in the beginning, Rogue began to let her hair in its natural shape.

"And you look taller," Kitty also said staring at her.

"It's called growing up," Rogue said after swallowing her toast. "And Ah think ya're overreacting, Kitty. Ya were off three weeks only."

In the following days, the rest of the X-Men came back, with the exception of Scott and Jean.

Storm, Logan and Xavier returned to the U.S. without much good news. They climbed down the X-Jet with an unconscious Professor in his wheelchair. Rogue accompanied them nervously to the infirmary wondering what might have happened for the Professor to get in that state.

Storm explained what had happened.

It seemed Elizabeth was a mutant that escaped to Japan after losing her parents in a plane crash. She soon discovered about her powers and used them to protect herself. She didn't tell any more of her story for Storm or Logan.

However, there was a moment that, as any other mutant discovering about ones abilities, Elizabeth lost control of her telepathy. And it was at that moment that Xavier detected her powers. He, Ororo and Logan then went to Japan, found her in Tokyo and offered help. At first, she was doubtful, but soon accepted it because her powers were becoming increasingly difficult to control. And when she finally managed to control her powers, Charles offered her an invitation to join the X-Men, but she refused it and fled.

During the return from Japan, however, Xavier went into a kind of coma thanks to the huge effort he had to help Elizabeth.

He woke up one day after returning to the mansion, staying in bed for two days.

And when he realized he already had regained his strength, he got up and went back to work. He spent most of his time in his office, and Rogue, who finally finished all the needed training to start a real mission, stood beside him, helping him pack up some papers. Though she hated to do it, she knew she owed it to the Professor, since he spent a great deal of time trying to find a way for _her_ to control her powers.

And while she finished tidying up the latest report on Elizabeth Braddock's new data along with Xavier, something happened.

Scott, who had already returned from his trip a while ago, appeared at the office entrance panting, his face was worried and nervous.

"Professor," he said approaching Charles' desk trying to catch his breath. "It's Jean... she simply disappeared again."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

It was no surprise that, since his return from Hawaii, Scott was surprised at Jean's absence. At first he didn't look _too _concerned, but at the time she didn't give a call for day, Scott decided to call her parents.

And it was then that he realized that something was really wrong. For her parents said that Jean had left in weeks. Jean stayed at her parents' just for a week.

Scott then went to Xavier and explained what happened.

And the Professor along with Rogue and Cyclops went straight to Cerebro to track Jean's powers. After a few minutes with the helmet on the head, Charles finally took it off, but his face didn't look relieved.

"You found her?" Scott said approaching the Professor.

"She didn't use her powers, Scott," was that the telepath mutant said. "And it's been a long time since she last did it."

Scott seemed really shocked, and Rogue could not help but try to comfort him. She placed her hand on Scott's shoulder and said, "We can still track her by her scent. Right, Professor? "

Xavier nodded, but still looked uneasy. "That is a possibility, but we must also consider that Jean was gone a long time, which means that Wolverine may have a greater difficulty to find her."

"But this is still a possibility?" Scott asked suddenly, startling Rogue.

"Yes," Charles replied. He soon called Logan and explained what was happening.

The three were then sent to the X-Jet and went on a trip looking for Jean. The first place they went was at Jean's parents' house. Logan then tracked her scent and followed it to the nearest airport with his bike.

The three climbed down the X-Jet and entered in the airport while Logan continued to follow Jean's trail, until losing it at one of a plane entrance. They were then forced to ask for help in the X-Jet and Beast was the first to search for Jean's data on the airport. He was quick and said that Jean had bought a ticket to Montreal, Canada, two weeks ago.

Scott was shocked for a while before saying anything.

"Was there someone else with her?" Logan said with his arms crossed as he stared at Beast's face on the screen.

Rogue looked from Logan to Hank and from Hank to Logan, realizing that something was wrong and the two didn't want to say. "What happened?" She asked. Logan stared at her from the corner of his eyes and returned his gaze to Scott who was on the other side of the X-Jet hacking data from the airport to see if there was something else important. Logan looked at the screen again and it seemed that the two – he and Hank – were having a conversation with their eyes only. "Hm, ya heard meh askin' something?" Rogue said getting nervous when she realized the two were actually hiding something from her.

Hank then said, "Tell her," and he returned to type something into his computer across the screen.

Logan stared at Rogue and approached her so Scott wouldn't hear.

"I sensed another smell with Jean's," he whispered and closed his eyes before speaking again. Rogue was restless. "It was Scott's." Even though she already knew the answer, she could not contain her surprise, looking at Beast on the computer screen.

Hank nodded and added, "The security cameras of the airport confirmed that Jean was not alone... And it was Scott who was with her."

"But," she whispered. "When Jean disappeared, Scott was with his brother, wasn't he?"

"Yes," Hank confirmed. "I also checked the security cameras of one of Hawaii's airports and Scott was also there at the exact moment he apparently was with Jean."

"So that means that we..."

"Are dealing with a shape-shifter," Logan added what Rogue would say. "Yes, but it's not Mystique. It's someone even more powerful than her, because he managed to change his scent to be identical to Scott's. "

"And ya're not plannin' on telling him that?"

"For now, _no_. The kid will freak out if he finds out they used _his_ identity to fool Jean. You know how he is... He'll be high-strung more than actually helpful. "

Rogue knew Scott acted without thinking when it came to Jean. And he certainly was not going to be very happy to know that, somehow, it was _he_ who kidnapped Jean. She agreed to keep this matter secret and Beast hung to report the incident to the Professor.

Arriving in Montreal, Logan continued to track Jean's trail in the city while Rogue and Scott waited impatiently in the X-Jet.

Rogue could feel her eyes forcing to close, since the three spent a whole night crawling Jean. Scott, who had tried to sleep for a while (unsuccessfully), started playing with a pen he found in the jet. After an hour with no sign of Logan, Rogue finally surrendered to sleep and slept in one of the chairs of the jet. She awoke when she felt something soft touch her face. Her eyes opened and they met Scott's face placing a blanket over her body.

"Sorry, I woke you up," he said, turning to his seat. His hands returned to play with the pen.

"Ah was already awake anyway," Rogue said feeling her face blush. She tucked the blanket on her shoulders and looked out of the jet. The sun was beginning to rise on the horizon and the building windows in the Canadian city began to mirror the red color of the sky.

She looked back at Scott and finally saw how tired he was. His face was pale and two deep dark circles half appeared under his visor. His jaw was tense and he kept playing with the pen with his fingers.

"You didn't sleep?" she asked stretching and searching for a better position in her seat.

"I could not," he said with his face still turned to the pen in his hand.

Rogue bit her lip. "Because of Jean, I know," she finally blurted.

Although Jean was not her "best" friend or anything like that, Rogue also could not stop caring about her. Not even close to how nervous Scott was, but she still cared.

Scott stared at her when he heard what Rogue said, but did not know what to answer. Rogue knew he was having a hard time keeping himself quiet. Although he didn't show it, Scott felt an obligation to be a leader and an example, but lose control in such a situation was not a good example. Rogue could hear the echoes of his memories sometimes. Thanks to them, she began to understand what he felt for Jean - of how a friendship of many years has became something more - what he felt during all the years he spent in the orphanage before being an X-men... She tried many times to ignore those memories - as well as all others that she absorbed - but many of them came when she slept. So she could do nothing…

"Ah know ya care about her, Scott," Rogue shrugged. "And we'll find her." As much as she hated to admit it, Jean had conquered Scott a long time ago...

He smiled at her, but remained silent. Rogue also decided not to say anything, because she had been struggling too much to say that.

Scott laughed and finally said after a long time in silence. "She never had a chance to say it, but... She always wanted to thank you for helping her at that time she... well, lost control of her powers."

Rogue smiled at him and said, "As Ah said once, she would do the same for me."

Scott also smiled a smile that was still very weak. "And as I said, we all would." Both returned to stay in silence, but both seemed a little easier than before.

Scott managed to take a little nap and Rogue prepared two cups of strong coffee when he awoke. The two had a few minutes to drink the coffee before Logan finally got back.

Scott was the first to get up, leaving the coffee cup in a corner and going up to Logan.

"So?"

Logan walked to the controls of the ship and said after a while. "She left the town and went to the north, deep into the forest."

He turned the X-Jet motor on while wearing the seat belt and the headset communicator.

"Whoa, wait a minute," Scott said also wearing the belt, but with eyes fixed on Logan. "Why do you think she is acting this way? Don't you think someone else might be in the middle of that? "

Rogue bit her lip as she prepared for the take off of X-Jet.

"Maybe," Logan replied, thinking of a way to talk without letting the truth slip. "I tracked the smell of another person beside her."

"This means that it may be some kind of mutant with telepathic powers controlling her mind?" Scott said.

"Maybe," Logan looked askance at Rogue.

The jet landed in the middle of the Canadian forest. Scott and Rogue took two coats and the three went down to the frosty forest. Logan found Jean's trail and continued to follow ever more to the north. Rogue and Scott, however, were aware of any predator that might appear in the forest. The three continued to walk through the woods for a while, until Logan stopped with no response.

"What?" Rogue said.

Logan sniffed from side to side and groaned remembering more an animal than a human. "Jean's smell split into two," he finally said.

Rogue and Scott looked at each other.

"Whoever took her... doesn't really want us to find them, "Logan said. He paused for a few moments before continuing to speak. "Let's split up."

"How?" Rogue said. "If ya haven't noticed that, we only have _one_ sniffer here." Logan stared at her with a raised eyebrow and Rogue understood. "Never mind ..." Wolverine took his left sleeve off and Rogue did the same.

He extended his hand to her, but she hesitated. "Are you sure?" she asked.

"Just do it, Stripes," he rolled his eyes and Rogue touched it with her index finger.

She felt her powers begin to work, a electric stream passed from Logan's hand to her entire body, even if it was weak. Rogue stood back from Logan as fast as she could and waited a while to be able to control all of the new thoughts and emotions she absorbed. She felt an urge to smoke cigars, but ignored it as she realized that Logan's sniffing powers began to emerge. She finally looked at Wolverine and nodded as if showing she succeeded on having his powers.

"You two go northeast and I go northwest. Anything happens; let me know by the communicator. And if you find anything until the sun begins to set, _back_ to the X-Jet. It's not good walking around here at night. "

The two agreed and split up.

Rogue focused on Jean's smell and started walking. Scott was right behind her in complete silence, as if any noise would disrupt Rogue. She felt a little uncomfortable because, although she wasn't a telepath, she could know exactly what was going on through Scott's head.

He was nervous, more so than when he saw Gambit at the prom. And he was pretty nervous at that time.

And without noticing, Rogue began thinking about Gambit. Not that it was voluntary. But she could not help but noticing the amount of times she found herself thinking of something related to him. Like playing cards, or smoking cigarettes, or even New Orleans and of how there was a long time before Mardi Gras happens.

She wondered if, at some time they were together, she inadvertently touched him. But Rogue knew that was not true.

Besides, it's been a long time since the two haven't seen each other.

The last time she met Gambit was in her graduation, in the end of May. And July 4th was already coming...

Well, but the last time she saw him, Gambit was about to do a job. For how long lasting these services? They could not be as fast as she thought, right?

Gambit's memories in her head said the contrary, they _were_ fast. Lasted at last a _week_ when it came to issues in the other side of the world. And she had seen him nearly in a _month_ ago.

Not that she cared, but she never went so long without "accidentally" running into him. She knew very well that Gambit doesn't runs into her unintentionally ... He himself said he was watching her. She remembered very well what he said after handing her the Queen of Hearts: _"You will be fine, _chèrie_. You've got people watching over you."_

Rogue, for a few seconds, felt like Scott did when he began to suspect if Jean was _really_ fine. This was ridiculous, she knew, now that she knew very well Gambit can take care of himself. But she could not help but notice that something was wrong...

Rogue was so deep in thoughts she did not realize the enormous volume in front of her feet and she stumbled. She fell forward, but managed to beat the drop by putting her arms in front of her. Scott ran to where she was and grabbed her arm. "Are you okay?" he helped her sit up.

"Ah think so," she said wiping the front of her coat. "Ah just stumbled on this... thing, "she pointed to where her foot coiled up. At first glance, it seemed only a volume of a fallen trunk or even a tree root, but at the time they approached to the object, they realized it was made of metal.

"What's that?" she said kicking it to hear a noise coming from the huge hollowed metal root.

"I don't know," Scott crouched down to get a better view. "But it seems like a... metal tentacle."

The metal tube suddenly moved and the two quickly departed. The object began to rise confirming what Scott said.

It was a long tentacle that began to rise.

The two followed the metal thread to find its origin. The metal was stuck in a huge black body that was well camouflaged with pine trees of the forest.

The machine was a long cylindrical body and a red glow in the top resembled an eye. She had one more tentacle like the first and short legs that were just there to hold her upright. At the moment its tentacles began to move, however, the creature lied on the floor and took the exact shape of a giant centipede. The two larger tentacles, which were on the top of its head, acted like antennae-arms.

One of them tried to crush Scott, but he jumped to the side.

He and Rogue went in different directions, but the creature seemed to be more interested in Scott.

He turned his face and started to shoot at it with his laser eyes. The tentacles, however, did not suffer any kind of scratch.

Rogue grabbed her communicator and quickly called for Logan. He said he was coming as fast as possible. And even though he was quick, Rogue knew it would take some time.

She heard Scott let out a scream of fright when he got caught by one of the tentacles and Rogue only had time to eye-pop before realizing that the other tentacle picked up her waist.

Rogue's communicator fell to the ground and she was shaken by the huge tentacle, leaving her upside down.

"Ugh, thanks God Ah didn't eat today," she said feeling her stomach getting upset, though there was nothing in it.

"Ditto," said Scott hung by his foot a few feet away from the ground.

"What this freakin' thing wants?" Rogue wondered.

She then felt something sharp poke her waist. She soon turned her eyes to the pain spot and screamed when she realized that the sharp tip of the tentacle began to pierce the fabric of her coat and soon the skin of her waist. She noticed a small spot of blood out of her body and she just looked at Scott. Like her, the tip of the tentacle that held Scott started drilling a piece of the calf of his leg.

"Damn," Scott said as tiny drops of blood began to fall from his leg.

He took all the pain he felt, and, realizing that Rogue was also in a similar situation, thought of something.

He searched for a weakness in that damn centipede, but the pain he felt in his leg hindered his thoughts. The only place that seemed to be vulnerable on that machine was its eye. Scott touched his visor and a red beam came out of his eyes toward the centipede.

The machine let the two X-men got at the same moment and the two fell to the ground.

Rogue stood up as she placed her hand on her open wound and Scott ran to her side to help her.

His ankle was burning and he knew he had to stanch his and her wounds before they lost too much blood.

"Can you get up?" Scott said.

Rogue glared up at him, "Sure," she replied rising as fast as possible.

They ran away from the machine before it recovered. Rogue helped Scott to walk by putting his arm over her shoulders.

The centipede was however quickly and soon followed them when it recovered. Still, it seemed disoriented.

Scott and Rogue ran as much as they could, but the fact that they were losing blood left them weaker and slower.

The now blood filled tentacle tip finally reached them and bumped their legs.

The two fell to the ground and looked at the huge centipede that was now a few feet away from the X-Men. The trunk of the huge machine stood up over the two and it prepared to attack them with its tentacles.

Scott tried to throw some of his eye rays over it, but it didn't work.

Rogue then quickly lifted her body and Scott's, trying to pull him away from the machine.

A tree beside the huge centipede gained life of its own. It started to come off the floor, making its roots to appear.

Its wooden trunk threw itself brutally on the huge machine, causing it to lie on the floor. A shriek came over inside the machine, as if being hit by the trunk caused internal damage.

Scott looked at Rogue, thinking that somehow it was she who had levitated the trunk, but the Gothic replied with a shrug. The two looked for something in the woods that would explain the strange movement of that pine.

The centipede tried once more to advance in the two, but it stopped in the air. As if there was some kind of force keeping it away from Scott and Rogue.

The two once again tried to find the reason of the sudden stop of the centipede and they found it.

A few feet behind them there was a redheaded woman with both arms extended toward the metal centipede.

"Jean?" Scott said flabbergasted, but with a smile on his face.

The mutant was more tired than the two together, but still seemed to try to use her powers to protect them. She struggled more and pushed the metal centipede with all the force of her powers, giving Scott and Rogue a chance to escape. They ran toward Jean, but before they could say anything, Logan finally appeared with his Adamantium claws.

He did not realize the redhead mutant, but soon ran to the huge centipede and left it into pieces.

At the moment that all of parts of the mechanical caterpillar stopped moving, a huge wall of smoke began to come out of them.

Logan lowered his claws and then searched for Scott and Rogue.

His eyes widened at the sight of Jean between the two, and he soon felt relief filling his stomach. He ran to the three X-men, but grimaced when he saw their sittuations.

Rogue had a huge hole in the waistband of her tracksuit which was now beginning to absorb an amount of blood. He looked worried at first, but realized that the wound on her body had already regenerated, thanks to his regenerative powers she acquired temporarily.

Scott had a calf bleeding, but he did not seem to care.

Jean was worse... Her jeans were torn and dirty, just like her tank top. She was barefoot and her hair was completely disheveled.

But her face was way wore. She was pale with dark and deep circles in under her eyes, and scratches around her whole body, probably caused by tree branches.

Scott tried to talk to her, but she fell asleep and slept with her head resting on his shoulder.

Logan told Rogue to help him to lift Jean and he picked her up. Rogue put Scott's arm over her shoulder and helped him walk again.

It was a very long walk to the X-Jet, but when they finally arrived there, they took care of their wounds. Rogue helped to clean and bandage Scott's legs and Logan put Jean's body over one of the beds of the X-Jet.

When finished, Rogue and Logan went to the ship controls and left Scott and Jean in the other compartment.

"What do ya think that thing was?" Rogue asked sitting next to Logan when the X-Jet began to fly.

"About that machine, I'm still not so sure..." Logan said, but seemed to want to complete what he said with another sentence.

"_But_ ...?" Rogue said.

Logan sighed, "You saw Jean's wounds, didn't you?"

"Ya mean the scratches?" she asked curiously.

Jean certainly got them because of the trees branches... not a surprise.

"No..." Logan replied. "I mean the ones that were in her arms only. Besides the scratches, they were full of holes."

Rogue nodded. She also had noticed that, but thought she saw things. "Seemed like needle marks. As if... as if she were in some kind of hospital," she replied feeling a shiver. She never liked hospitals.

"Or worse... as if she were in a _lab_," Logan said. He knew it very well. Each type of wound you could win when you were a lab rat.

Rogue looked at him surprised. "What d' ya mean with that?"

Logan kept looking ahead. "In a long time ago... Charles has noticed the disappearances of some people. In the beginning, each disappearance didn't seem to have any connection. They happened in very different places… some in Brazil, others in Japan, South Africa, England, Australia, _everywhere_ in the world…. until these people started to reappear, one by one. This is happening since a long time, actually. But Chuck finally realized one thing in common among all those missing people..."

Rogue didn't have to wait for him to say it, because she already knew what it was. "They were all mutants, weren't they?"

Logan agreed. "And all of 'em came had those same needle marks."

Rogue was silent. She had heard about these disappearances from the Professor. She just didn't have time to know more about this subject in particular.

But everything looked very strange.

A few hours later the X-Jet, landed on the mansion and the four X-Men went straight to the infirmary.

Hank already waited for them and he first took care of Jean.

Since she entered the jet, Jean hadn't opened her eyes – she was way too tired. Hank examined her wounds and she had a broken leg. The problem was that she was weak and seemed to have not eaten for at least two or three days.

Xavier stood next to her for a long time, trying to calm her mind for her to rest better. Scott, after being examined with Rogue by Hank didn't leave Jean's side.

After being released from the infirmary, Rogue decided to speak with Professor Xavier and he explained about the strange disappearances of the mutants.

He said that in a long time ago, a mutant he knew was missing for a long time. All his family regarded him as dead, even without finding any body. But after three months, he reappeared on an island near the Philippines, weak, tired and with marks on his arm just like Jean's.

Nobody knew what had happened, but when the mutant finally opened his mouth to speak, he said he had gotten lost on an island and could not remember much of anything besides being rescued by a group of fishermen who passed near it.

Xavier met him and tried to do a mind reading to see if he could find out what _really_ happened. He didn't get much, but realized that his friend had suffered a change in his memories, as if someone had modified what really happened with him. Charles then became suspicious that something was wrong and immediately began searching for more similar cases. And he found them – in all of them, missing persons appeared with marks on their arms, saying they were lost in a forest, or desert, and did not remember anything else that happened. But what surprised Xavier was the fact that all these cases have happened since a long time. A _really_ long time ago: some disappearances were reported half a century ago, although others were more recent.

He took a lot time to find something in common between all these people. He searched in the local newspapers where they lived, old medical records, school files and even family transcriptions. And he finally found that something in common: they were _all_ mutants. They were of all kinds: telepaths, shape-shifters, teleporters, regenerators, telekinetic, super strong... not even the invulnerable ones escaped.

Some thought they might have been alien abductions, but Charles was sure they weren't.

"Do ya think it could be another mutant?" Rogue asked finishing reading the reports that Xavier had collected over time.

"I'm pretty sure it could," he said on the other side of his wooden desk with fingers interlaced before him. "And not only a mutant with a powerful telepathy – since he managed to erase the memories of all these mutants, and controlling Jean's mind for a long time – but someone who has a great regenerative power, like Logan and Sabretooth. "

"Don't ya think it also can be some kind of secret association or something like that, like S.H.I.E.L.D. or those Friends of Humanity?"

"We also have this possibility, but I'm not sure yet. We still have much to investigate. I sent Logan to look for some traces in Canada and he said he didn't find much, which was what I suspected. Even the machine that attacked you and Scott had disappeared from the map in a blink. This person already has an experience of at least a century. Of course he will know very well how to cover himself up to leave something behind. "

"Well, but we found out about his existence. Don't ya think this has been an oversight of his part?" Rogue said.

"Indeed, yes," Xavier said. "I presume that Jean was the first one able to escape before he brainwashed her. I tried to get into her mind to find some traces of him now, but it seems she is unwillingly trying to hide everything she suffered in there. The only thing I could assimilate in all of all this was that it was somewhere dark; it looked like a kind of laboratory, like Logan said. "

Rogue was silent for a while, trying to assimilate everything he just said. It was a lot to think about and she still hadn't eaten yet.

She stood up after asking for the Professor if she could get something to eat. The moment she opened the office door, Xavier called.

"Rogue, one more thing," she closed the door and came when realizing he was with a wary expression.

"Yes?" she sat back in the chair in front of Charles' desk.

"From what I was able to get information from Jean's mind, I began to suspect something else," he was with his brown eyes fixed on his desk. His head seemed to be in elsewhere. "That laboratory and that person... I think Jean was not the only one of the X-Men who has been a victim of him." Rogue didn't know what to say. "When Mystic's memories manifested in your dreams, I remember that she was in a lab with Magneto."

Rogue remembered that too. How Mystique was in a dark place... in a laboratory, and how she was stunned about something that happened to... Kurt. _"Monster, what have you done to him?"_ Was what she yelled before rushing out of the castle.

"Yes, Ah remember that..." Rogue said looking nervously at her knee while trying to ward off Mystic feelings from her head. "Do ya think Kurt was also a victim of this same mutant?"

"I'm pretty sure," he said slowly. "Even though Mystic's memories about this place weren't too enlightened ... I could see that she was not talking to Magneto when she referred to whatever happened to Kurt."

"But talking with this other mutant…"

"Exactly, but we still need to get more information. I'm sure this man will act again... For now, that's all I have to say. "

Rogue nodded and stood up to leave.

"And Rogue," Xavier called her again and she looked over her shoulder. "I know Kurt would want to know that, but we don't have more specific information about all of this, it's best not to tell him anything for now."

She nodded and walked away.

Although she didn't show it, Rogue felt bad about having to keep a thing like that from Kurt. Because if Kurt and Xavier knew anything about _her_ biological parents or anything that was related to her past, she would want to know. But still, she knew she was protecting Kurt from not telling him anything.

She went to kitchen and got a glass of warm milk. She sat on the kitchen chair and swallowed the milk gradually while biting a chocolate cookie.

Her eyes were forcing to close. Since she returned from Canada, she had no time to sleep or even eat something. And now she was feeling a headache starting to emerge.

"Rogue!" She heard a voice from the kitchen entrance. Kitty and Kurt were right behind her.

The two quickly embraced her and sat beside her.

"We just visited Scott and Jean, but we couldn't, like, find you anywhere!" Kitty said taking a cookie from the plate.

Rogue gave her a smile, but said nothing.

"What happened there?" Kurt said to his sister, curious. "And Scott didn't seem to want to tell us anything…"

"We saw their states and it seemed that you guys didn't go through very good things there..." Kitty Kurt interrupted.

Rogue looked at them, but didn't know what to say. She was not sure what to tell them, because the more they head, the more questions they would do.

She then spoke in a way that even related a few things, although she didn't say the whole true. Best to wait for the Professor to explain…

Realizing that the two would not stop asking questions too soon, she rose from her chair and said she was too tired to continue. "Professor Xavier tell ya better later." Kitty and Kurt agreed and Kurt began searching for something to eat in the fridge.

"Oh," Kitty said before Rogue left the kitchen. "Jean, like, woke up and she kinda looked like she wanted to see you." Rogue looked confused, but agreed. "I think she was worried about you or something."

The brown and white haired girl stood in the middle of the kitchen entrance, but soon recovered and went to her room.

* * *

The next day, Jean had woken early, but her eyes were closed, trying to make her rest a little bit more. The room was empty and the first sun shines began to appear through the window. The only thing she could hear was the incessant _tic-tac_ of the clock.

She heard someone approaching slowly until it got close to her bed. At first she thought it was Scott, but the steps were too light to be from a man.

Jean opened her eyes and found herself facing Rogue's pale face. What made Jean surprised was that she brought with her a glass of water with a white lily inside it.

Rogue turned to face Jean and was startled to see that she was awake.

"Good morning, Rogue," she said with a smile.

"Good morning," she replied with a weak smile. "Kitty and Kurt bought this flower for ya," she said pointing to the lily. Jean seemed a little disappointed, but still thanked her. "And Ah made some cookies," Rogue completed by placing a plate of chocolate cookies near her.

Jean's smile returned to her face and thanked her again. "I don't think Hank would let me eat that," she said, taking a cookie and biting it.

Rogue laughed and replied, "Trust meh, Ah've spent too much time in the infirmary to realize that some cookies are not so bad."

Jean laughed and felt the taste of chocolate melt in her mouth. Rogue was certainly a great cook. She had tried several dishes she had cooked Thanksgiving, which was a great contrast to Kitty's dishes.

"Are ya feeling better?" Rogue asked as she looked at her heart monitor.

"A little," replied Jean lowering her hand with the cookie. Rogue looked at her with the corner of her eye and saw that she was still pretty bad.

The Gothic remained silent caressing the petals of the white lily without knowing what to do. The fabric of her glove prevented her from feeling anything from the flower.

"Can I tell you something?" Jean asked still looking at the cookie in her hand.

Rogue raised an eyebrow. Jean wanted to tell her something?

"Sure," she replied dubious, sitting in the chair beside the bed.

"I wanted to thank you," she seemed embarrassed. "Not only because you looked for me... but also for helping me when I lost control of my powers. I know it's been a while, but I always wanted to thank you for that. So... thanks. For everything, "she smiled.

Rogue also gave her a smile.

"Ah think ya already know that, but... Ah did this because Ah know you'd also do the same for meh, "she averted her gaze from Jean.

"We _all_ would," Jean repeated what Scott had twice said.

Rogue gave her a smile and the two were silent for some time. She watched Jean eat her cookie and noted the needle marks on her arms.

"Ah know ya might not want t' talk about that, but..." Rogue said looking at Jean. "Don't ya _really_ remember what happened?"

"Just a few things," the redhead said taking another bite of her cookie. "I just remember a dark place, full of test tubes and some bizarre machines. It was like I was in some kind of lab... and I was the lab rat." Both were silent, but Jean decided to continue. "You guys didn't tell Scott, did you?" Rogue looked doubtful. "About this person kidnapping me with his face..."

Rogue sighed and said no. "Not yet."

Jean then began to talk jumbled and confusing things. That's when Rogue realized she was starting to feel the anesthetic effect. "But I think it was more my fault. I should have realized when he started saying that he wanted to take me to another place so suddenly. It's just that I was so excited about the engagement and... "Jean stopped talking at once and looked at Rogue, who was with a shocked expression.

"What," she asked. "Engagement?"

"Hm," Jean looked the other way as if she realized the shit she just had said. "I think the anesthetic is taking effect."

"Wait a minute..." Rogue said. "You... and _Scott_?"

"I think I said too much," Jean sighed. Rogue just waited for her to answer. Jean then became desperate, "Please don't tell anyone 'bout it!"

"You're engaged? But... since _when_? "

"Since June…"

"Is that serious?" Rogue hasn't seemed to believe. The two had barely started dating and were already engaged... It was as if they wanted to compensate for all this time they lost.

"Yes," replied Jean. "I mean, we still don't think of marriage or anything, but... it's been a while we've decided it. Besides, I wanted to finish college first," she shrugged and then turned to face Rogue with concern.

"Does anyone else know 'bout this?" She asked, still shocked.

"No, I mean, Kitty suspected something, but you know how she is, and I don't think she_ really_ knows about it," she ran her hand on her arm. "And that is why you must _not_ tell anyone, _please_. We're still waiting for the right time to tell the others..."

Rogue was silent for a few moments. It was all hard to believe. She had only gone there in an act of friendship by (technically) handing Jean a flower and a plate of cookies, but ended up discovering too much. "Okay," she said. "Ah won't tell to anyone if that's what ya want."

Jean thanked her, but seemed embarrassed. They were silent for some time. Rogue took the opportunity to try to understand what was happening.

"You must be thinking that all of this is a little strange..." Jean chuckled humorlessly.

Rogue shrugged and said, "Not strange, just... different."

"How so?" Jean asked curiously.

"It's just," she shrugged. "Ah think that when you guys got... well, engaged, ya would want to tell everyone about it."

Jean laughed. "Not yet."

Rogue also gave her a smile. She still could not say she got used to their engagement, but she could see that Jean seemed really happy about it.

"Don't worry," Rogue said. "Ah won't tell anyone," she stood up from the chair and took another cookie. "Ah better go. Logan had the brilliant idea to give me an extra training today," she rolled her eyes.

"Good luck, and thanks for everything, Rogue," Jean said.

Rogue nodded and walked away.

Fourth of July passed the same way it has come: fast. The X-men cheered and celebrated the Independence Day in the mansion itself, in mutant way of course.

The place was decorated in blue, red and white, full of tables with food and drinks.

Rogue was still having a hard time getting used to Scott and Jean's secret engagement, but managed to get distracted when seeing Kurt and Bobby appearing with false beards and white hats in the flag colors.

When the national holiday was over, the mutants continued to enjoy their vacation in a fast rhythm. The place they most stayed was the swimming pool. Some leave the mansion for work or for shopping, like Kitty, Amara, Tabitha, Rahne and Jubilee did. And after she recovered, Jean accompanied them. Rogue also failed to escape and soon joined them, taking the opportunity to buy new clothes for her wardrobe, plus some new CDs.

And everyone was unhappy to realize that the summer vacations were all over before they could realize. August had finally returned and the mutants started to settle their school materials.

Rogue and Scott also had no rest. As it seemed, Scott gave up college for some reason he hasn't told, but Rogue also didn't want to know – it was good enough to have to keep the secret of an engagement. And that meant he and Rogue had full training time with Logan, besides having to go out on missions trying to find out about these cases of disappeared mutants.

On days off, Rogue spent her time the diner of Southern food she loved. And for a few days, she felt relieved.

In a way, she missed school, more out of habit than anything else, but it was not something she would do again.

One day, however, she realized she was missing something else. And several times she caught herself walking near the bars of Bayville, looking at all those people playing pool and poker...

Indeed, the fact that she went to that diner of Southern more than usual was a strange thing. Because every time she sat at the table and made her request, she could not stop looking at the door, as if expecting someone to walk by. And _every _time she got away with a twinge of disappointment.

At first she didn't understand why she was feeling this way, but at the time she almost got up to notice a reddish-brown head with a brown trench coat pass through the door of the restaurant, she realized what was happening. Mainly to see that the person in brown overcoat wasn't who she thought she was.

And at the same time she noticed that, Rogue got up leaving her dish in half, threw the money in the table and walked away.

She put her coat around her body and began to walk in the streets of Bayville without a destination. And this time, she avoided all the bars in town, or anywhere that would remind the owner of that brown trench coat.

She returned to the mansion a little late and then went to her room, ready to sleep.

Before she could reach her bedroom, though, Rogue noticed a noise in the living room. She entered the room and was surprised to see all the X-men gathered there, with the exception of Professor Xavier and Logan.

Each one was in a spot. Some were near the fireplace, lit because of the cold of autumn, others were sitting on the sofa and others just stood there.

No one spoke a word.

"What happened?" Rogue asked for Kitty that was sitting on the arm of the couch with her arms crossed. Everyone seemed to be with an unfriendly expression. Some were pretty upset.

Kitty looked across the room to one of the statues of the place and did not answer immediately. "Magneto's here."

Rogue was paralyzed for some moments. "_What_?! How so? "

"Apparently," Scott said near the fireplace. "He made some sort of blunder and came to ask for Professor's help."

Rogue bit her lip. It had to be a serious blunder Magneto did to ask for Xavier's help. She approached the couch and waited with everyone else. For half an hour they were all silent. And finally, Professor Xavier appeared with Logan, Magneto, Pyro and Sabretooth behind him.

Logan didn't have a very happy expression on his face.

All the X-men in the room approached Xavier expecting him to start talking.

Rogue, although she was frightened by the fact that Magneto was there, could not help but noticing that someone was still missing. Only Pyro and Sabretooth were there…

"My students," Professor Xavier started and everyone turned their attention to him. "As you know, a year ago, we deal with a very big threat," he paused for a while before continuing. "Apocalypse," everyone looked at each other. "For a while, I thought we managed to save the world from this dangerous mutant. But now, as Erik said, "he pointed to the silver-haired mutant beside him. "He's back."

"How are you so sure?" Scott asked looking directly at Magneto.

"I'll tell you how he is so sure of that," said Piotr approaching Magneto with his index finger pointing to him. He was pretty mad. "_You_ were behind Apocalypse's power. You knew very well it was way too dangerous, but still you continued to search for something that gave you more power! "

Sabretooth came in front of Magneto with a roar. Their claws and teeth becoming increasingly visible. Piotr did not feel intimidated, his fists becoming metal at the same time. Logan joined the metal X-men, showing his Adamantium claws and growling at Victor. Pyro started laughing in his maniacal and frightening way and soon approached the fight, ready to start a fire. "Hello, traitor," he said to Piotr.

"_Stop_," Storm stood in the middle along with Hank and Xavier. "Now it no longer matters _who_ started things. What matters is that we have someone _dangerous_ back and we have to _stop_ him. "

"Storm is right," Xavier said. "Fighting now won't solve anything." They moved away, but Logan and Victor still had their assassin looks facing each other. Charles turned his eyes to Magneto. "Do you know anything about Warren's whereabouts?"

"Warren?" Rogue asked just remembering Angel. She looked at Scott, "What happened t' him?"

"He followed us, but disappeared before entering the temple in the Himalayas after a bleacher."

"He just _vanished_?" Scott said approaching Magneto.

"Doesn't matter what happened to him," Creed said with his arms crossed and his manic eyes facing Scott. "The little bird tried to follow us, but got lost. It's not our fault he put the nozzle where he wasn't called. "

Logan growled at him and Sabretooth stared.

Piotr then looked at the sides, trying to find someone who was not there.

"Where's Gambit?" he asked, his Russian accent more pronounced. Everyone looked at the silver-haired mutant waiting for a response.

But in the moment that Magneto took a deep breath with eyes closed and arms crossed, Rogue knew something had happened to Gambit… something rather serious.

"Gambit was taken," Erik finally answered. "He became Apocalypse's Horseman."


End file.
